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BIENNIAL REPORT
of the
North Carolina Department
of Agriculture
From December 1, 1922
To November 30, 1924
MEMBERS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
1. W. A. Graham, Commissioner, ex officio Chairman
2. F. P. Latham, First District 4. W. B. McLelland, Eighth District
3. W. A. Brown, Third District 5. Clarence Poe, Fourth District
6. K. W. Barnes, Secretary and Purchasing Agent
MEMBERS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
1. Edith K. Vanderbilt, Tenth District
2. R. W. Scott, Fifth District
3. J. Vance McGougan, Sixth District
4. J. J. Harris, Second District
5. C. C. Wright, Seventh District.
6. O. Max Gardner, Ninth District
BIENNIAL REPORT
of the
North Carolina Department
of Agriculture
From December 1, 1922
To November 30, 1924
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
December 12, 1924.
To His Excellency, Cameeon Morrison,
Governor of North Carolina.
Sir:—In compliance witli section 3944 of the Revisal o£ 1905, I
submit the following report of the operations of the Department of
Agriculture for the years 1922-24, to be transmitted to the Legislature
with such reference as you may deem necessary for the public welfare.
Respectfully submitted,
Gomm/ission&r of Agriculture.
OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
W. A. Graham, Commissioner, ex officio Chairman, Raleigh
F. P. Latham, Belhaven First District
J. J. Harris, Macon Second District
W. A. Brown, Rocky Point Third District
Clarence Poe, Raleigh Fourth District
R. W. Scott. Haw River Fifth District
J. Vance McGougan, Fayetteville Sixth District
C. C. Wright, Hunting Creek Seventh District
W. B. McClelland, Stony Point Eighth District
O. Max Gardner, Shelby Ninth District
Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt. Biltmore Tenth District
OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
Executive Officers
W. A. Graham .Commissioner
K. W. Barnes Secretary and Purchasing Agent
Mrs. Carl Hill Bookkeeper
Miss Mary Knight Stenographer
Experiment Station and Extension Service
B. W. Kilgore Director
F. E. Miller Assistant Director Branch Experiment Stations
Analytical Division
( Vacancy ) State Agricultural Chemist
W. G. Haywood Fertilizer Chernst
E. S. Dewar Assistant Chemist
Z. B. Bradford Assistant Chemist
C. L. Williams , Assistant Chemist
E. F. Hord Assistant Chemist
D. M. Jeffress Assistant Chemist
J. O. Halverson Feed Chemist
L. M. Nixon Assistant Chemist
H. A. Dickert Assistant Chemist
F. W. Sherwood Assistant Chemist
Miss M. S. Birdsong Secretary
Museum
H. H. Brimley Curator
Harry T. Davis Assistant
Veterinary Division
William Moore Veterinarian
C. P. Caldwell Assistant
L. J. Faulhaber Assistant
Miss Hattie Bell „ Stenographer
4 Officers and Employees
Animal iNDtrsTBY Division
R. S. Curtis Acting Chief
J. A. Arey In Cliarge, Dairy Extension
A. C. KiMEEY Assistant Dairy Specialist
W. L. Clevengek Assistant Dairy Specialist and Instruction
F. R. Faenham Assistant Dairy Specialist, Production Work
H. L. Wilson Assistant Dairy Specialist, Swiss Cheese Work
W. A. Graham Assistant Dairy Specialist, Cheddar Cheese Work
W. W. Shay In Charge, Swine Extcnf^ipn
W. V. Hays Assistant Swine Specialist
G. P. William Sheep Specialist
Earl H. HosTETLER....In Charge, Office of Swine Investigations and Instruction
L. H. McKay Assistant, Office of Swine Investigations and Instruction
Vernon M. Williams In Charge, Office of Dairy Investigations
Allen G. Oliver In charge, Office of Poultry Extension
E. G. Wardin Assistant, Office of Poultry Extension
Miss Nellie Fort Secretary, Animal Industry Division
Miss Edna Walborn Stenographer
Miss Lillian Bender Stenographer
Division of Agronomy
Dr. R. Y. Winters Plant Breeding Agronomist
W. F. Pate In Charge, Soil Fertility Investigations
L. G. Willis „ _ Soil Chemist
E. C. Blair Extension Agronomist (Soil and Crops)
P. H. KiME Assistant Plant Breeder
G. M. Garren Grain Specialist
H. B. Mann Assistant in Soil Fertility
S. K. Jackson Assistant in Soil Fertility
S. F. Davidson Assistant in Soil Survey
W. A. Davis Assistant in Soil Survey
H. A. McGee (Tobacco) Extension Agronomist
Division of Entomology
Franklin Sherman Chief in Entomology
R. W. Leiby Assistant Entomologist, Investigations
C. S. Brimley Assistant, Investigations
T. B. Mitchell Assistant, Inspections and Field Work
J. C. Crawford Assistant, Investigations
J. A. Harris Assistant, Investigations
W. B. Mabee , Assistant, Extension
C. L. Sams Beekeeping Extension
Miss Jessie Almer Marion Clerk
Division of Horticulture
C. D. Matthews Chief
Robert Schmidt Vegetable Culture
W. A. Radspinner „ Pomology
C. F. Williams , „ Research
G. O. Randall Extension Work
H. R. Niswonger Extension Work
Mrs. O. H. Bishop Stenographer
Officers and Employees 5
Food and Oil Division
W. M. Allen State Food and Oil Chemist and Chief of Division
L. B. Rhodes Assistant Food and Gasoline Chemist
W. A. Queen Assistant Food and Linseed Oil Chemist
E. W. Constable Assistant Gasoline Chemist
M. A. Townsend Clerk and Assistant Chemist
C. R. Warlick Food and Sanitary Inspector
F. T. Ward Oil and Gasoline Clerk
S. G. Allen - General Clerk
Sallie F. Palmer Clerk and Stenographer
Division of Botany
J. L. Burgess , Botanist
Miss Susie Allen Seed Analyst
Miss Gussie Finch Assistant Seed Analyst
Miss Grace Stone Assistant Seed Analyst
Miss Kate Ballard Assistant Seed Analyst
Markets and Rural Organizations
George R. Ross Chief
R. B. Etheridge Specialist in Farm Crops
Albert E. Mercker Specialist in Fruits and Vegetables
G. R. Blount Specialist in Marketing Fruits and Vegetables
J. I. Johnson Cotton Grading
J. P. Brown Warehouse Inspection and Oi^ration
A. V. Anderson Credit Unions
V. W. Lewis Livestock Marketing Specialist
H. R. PowLEDGE Chief Clerk
W. L. Nelson Telegraph Operator
Miss Mabel Haynes Stenographer
Mrs. J. N. Mason Stenographer
Miss Elizabeth Moore Stenographer
Division of Agricultural Economics
Frank Parker Agricultural Statistician
William H. Rhodes, Jr Assistant Statistician
E. B. Morrow Assistant Statistician
Mrs. Katherine W. Haig Record Clerk
Mrs. Ella R. Simpson Filing Clerk
Mrs. Polk Denmark Mailing Clerk
Mrs. Rebecca W. Horton Census Clerk
Publications
F. H. Jeter Agricultural Editor
A. O. Alford Assistant Editor
Mrs. J. S. Whiteneb _ ^ Stenographer
Miss Thelma Owens Clerk
6 Officers and Employees
Farm Engineering
E. R. Rainey Farm Building and Equipment
Miss Louise B. Wright Stenographer
Farm Forestry
H. M. CURRAN Farm Forestry Specialist
Test Farms
R. E. Ourrin, Jr Superintendent Edgecombe Test Farm, Rocky Mount, N. C.
F. T. Meacham Superintendent Iredell Test Farm, Statesville, N. C.
S. C. Clapp Superintendent Buncombe Test Farm, Swannanoa, N. 0.
Charles Dearing Superintendent Pender Test Farm, Willard, N. C
E. C. Moss Superintendent Granville Test Farm, Oxford, N. C.
J. L. Rea, Jr Superintendent Washington Farm, Wenona, N. O.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER
Upon the death of my beloved father, who served the State as Com-missioner
of Agriculture continuously from September, 1908, till Decem-ber,
1923, you saw fit to place the responsibilities of the office in my
hands.
Stimulated by a desire to emulate the achievements of my father,
whose work, now passed into history, was made possible by the wise
counsel of his board and loyal cooperation of his stafL I decided to
accept the challenge of service and trust to you for support in carrying
forward the great work of the Department not only along present lines
but into new and relatively unexplored fields of activity.
Since we last met, Hon. A.. Cannon, for over twenty years a member
of the board, has been taken from us. He was devoted to the agricultural
interests of the State; efficient and loyal, and his wise counsel will be
sadly missed. Mrs. Edith K. Vanderbilt of Buncombe County was ap-pointed
to fill this vacancy.
While the State is justly proud of the record of progress made by our
board and its former Commissioner, there are yet vast territories to
conquer before we shall reach our goal of financial independence for
agriculture in Worth Carolina.
I use the term "financial independence" advisedly. Our. country
people, as a rule, have ample food supplies, but have little money. They
have learned to produce bountifully, but since for years much of this
bounty, beyond household necessities, has been forced to decay at the
point of production, our farmers have found it wise to curtail produc-tion
in certain lines, in sheer self-defense, with the result that our
large consuming centers have been compelled to draw their food sup-plies
largely from outside sources, thus depriving I^orth Carolina of mil-lions
of dollars that rightfully belong in the pockets of North Carolina
farmers.
Practicax, Marketixg the Paramount JSTeed at this Time
By a survey of the agricultural conditions in this State, I am driven
to the conclusion that we are making a one-sided economic development.
We are forcing theoretical instruction too far ahead of practical achieve-ment.
To illustrate, we have been teaching our farmers to build modern
potato houses without creating a set of market conditions to prevent the
potatoes from rotting from too long a storage period. We have shown
the farmer the advantages of purebred stock and enabled him to pro-duce
the best of farm animals only to glut the local market and smother
his ambitions in the excess of his own productions. You, yourself, will
recall similar examples of this unbalanced economic condition in our
agriculture.
8 BiENisriAi. Report
Wider Markets Imperative
Our farmers have, as a body, always been out of toucb with our
large consuming centers; but, witb our superb transportation system
about complete, and with, a vigorous campaign under way to organize
tbe farmers into industrial groups for marketing purposes, we should
soon begin to make inroads upon the leading markets of the country.
We have no criticism of the theoretical teaching that has gone before,
but we insist that the time has now arrived to reduce our theories to
practice; and that it is a cruel and short-sighted policy that fosters in-creased
production without providing for a parallel increase in the re-turns
from this production.
Through our Market Division we have determined to concentrate the
efforts and energies of this Department on the one object of finding the
best markets for the products of the farm. To this end we have secured,
as Chief of this Division, the services of George R. Ross, of Moore
County. Mr. Ross is a native of ISTorth Carolina; a graduate of the
A. and E. College; a young man full of energy and enterprise, and well
equipped for the duties he has been engaged to perform.
While the details of the Market Division will be arranged by Mr,
Ross and the different lines of activity largely determined by him and
his staff, I might outline to you one or two features of the work to show
you the proposed practicability of the efforts of this division. The far-mers
close to the larger cities generally have a fair local market, but
those in the back country are at a distinct disadvantage even with our
system of good roads. It is here that our best work in this line can be
done. In these remote sections our market man will stimulate the pro-duction
of surplus hogs, or cattle, or poultry, or potatoes far beyond
what can be disposed of in the immediate section. Ten farmers, say,
in one of these communities will raise and fatten six more hogs each
than they have been able, heretofore, to market. Sixty hogs will make
a carload. Our market specialist will be in touch with the nearest
packing house. The hogs will be ready for delivery on demand after
ISTovember first, we will say. When the market is ready all of these hogs
will be delivered at one point and shipped and the net proceeds pro-rated
among the farmers by our .market specialist.
We will not be able to guarantee any definite price for any length of
time, but we will be able to get the best price prevailing at the time of
shipment. There is a packing house in Richmond and one in Atlanta
and one is being built in Asheville.
These carload shipments could be repeated any number of times and
with a dozen different farm products, and hundreds of thousands of dol-lars
distributed throughout sections of the State where it is not now
thought possible to place a dollar. Through our Market Division, we ex-pect,
within the next year or two, to be able to say to the farmers, "you
grow the stuff and we will sell it for you."
COMMISSIONEK OF AgRICULTUKE
[Farm Tokestky
There is anotlier work of deep interest to our agriculture, and that ia
farm forestry.
Section 4686, Vol. 2. of the Consolidated Statutes of 1919 reads as
follows : ''The Department of Agriculture shall investigate and report
upon the condition of the timber in jSTorth Carolina and recommend
such legislation as will promote the growth thereof and preserve the
same."
In order to bring out, in greater relief, the vital importance of main-taining
and preserving our timber supply, I wish to call your attention
to some of the relationships existing between the farmer's wood lot
and our leading industrial enterprises. And first I wish to call your
attention to the use of the woods in the manufacture of
:
Vehicles and Machinery
We have at various important centers of the State, as at "Wilson,
Durham, and Hickory important buggy and wagon manufacturing in-dustries.
These call for the best young growth of hickory for axles and
shafts, and first-class hickory and white oak for axles, double and single
trees, etc.
For use in the manufacture of vehicles and various farm machinery,
hickory and oak are invaluable products of the farm.
Paper Industry
Some days ago I noted with pleasure that the paper interests were
seriously considering the location of a number of pulp mills in this State
to use up the usual fifty per cent of the tree that goes to waste in getting
•out logs for the sawmills.
We have in ISTorth Carolina woods that can be made into every grade
of paper from the coarsest wrapping paper to the most delicate tinted
note paper, and at Canton, this State, there is now a very large pulp
plant that makes from the different woods of the mountains the best
news-print to be found in the fifteen and one-half billion yearly circula-tion
of America's newspapers and periodicals. The white pine, the
chestnut, and various oaks are among the timbers thus used in the
daily spread of information among the American people, and Western
North Carolina is peculiarly adapted to the growth of these woods.
Leather Industry
We have not yet found anything to take the place of tannic acid in
the manufacture of leather. While metallic salts and certain oils are
used to a limited extent in the preparation of hides, the great leather in-dustry
of the United States is mainly dependent upon tannic acid ex-tracted
from the oak, chestnut, and hemlock barks as found in Western
10 Biennial Report
iSTorth Carolina, tlie gathering of whicli has, for years, constituted a
more or less remunerative springtime industry for the farmers of this
section of the State.
The Cotton Mills
So far as I am informed, every shuttle that plies in every loom in
every one of our thousands of cotton mills is made of either persimmon
wood or dogwood, and, practically, every farmer in the Piedmont and
Mountain sections of North Carolina has a few of these trees on his
farm. These woods are of vast importance to the cotton industry of
this State and the country at large, and, being woods of exceedingly slow
growth should be scrupulously protected and allowed to occupy all lands
that do not lend themselves easily to cultivation.
Hydko-Electric Power
There is a close relationship between farm forestry and the year-round
maintenance of high voltage in our hydro-electric power plants.
While our larger streams have their rise on the wooded side of our
mountains, where a gradual run-off is maintained throughout most of
the year, they receive most of their supply of water from small streams
that are fed from springs and intermittent showers throughout the
partially cleared lands of the Piedmont section. Most of the water
impounded behind the great dams at Badin on the Yadkin and behind
those of the Southern Power Company on both the Yadkin and
Catawba rivers, is gathered by these streams after they have left Wilkes-boro
and Old Port.
It is important, therefore, as an indirect aid to the industrial power
development of the State, that our farmers in the Piedmont section
early learn the importance of properly conserving their forest areas
along the small streams and thus aid in the year-round, continuous
water supply to the big industrial power plants that should, in turn,
aid in producing a market for their products.
Railroad Ties
Of course the intimate relationship between railroad transportation
and farm forestry is apparent to every one who has ever observed at
the little way-side stations and sidings the endless piles of ties for build-ing
and repairing the roads. The preservation, then, of our young oak
growths, on lands otherwise useless, is of great importance throughout
Piedmont ISTorth Carolina.
The Furniture Industry
The second city in the United States in furniture production is High
Point. Just what percentage of the lumber used in the production of
this furniture is produced in ISTorth Carolina I do not know, but I am
Commissioner of Agriculture 11
sure that the maple, the walnut, the poplar, the ash, the oak, the cedar,
the pine, and much o£ the cherry used by these mills should be grown
and cut from the waste acres on the farms of this State. And High
Point is but one town in which first-class furniture is made. You can
name a dozen other towns, such as Mebane, Thomasville, Worth Wilkes-boro
and Statesville, where the wood-working industry is of first-class
importance.
• Lumbering
The fame of our once magnificent forests along the coast has now
passed into history, and we have only the stumps to remind us that
lumbering and the gathering of naval stores once formed the principal
industry of nearly half the area of the State.
But we must still have lumber ; and the most practical way I can see
to get it in sufficient and dependable quantity is for each farmer to grow
all he can on his waste acres surrounding his fields.
I am told it takes but thirty years to grow a pine tree from the seed
to a saw log a foot and a half thick. If then, we could grow the ideal
acre of 200 trees and have them average 400 feet of lumber to the tree,
and this lumber should be worth $30 the lowest price it sells for today,
the acre would yield the farmer $2,400 or an average of $80 an acre for
each of the thirty years. With what other crop can he do so well ?
Fuel
I have said nothing of the importance of farm forestry to the fuel
supply of both the farm and the city. Every one knows of its vital con-nection
with the fuel supply.
Telephone Poles
In 1921 there were 190 telephone companies in ISTorth Carolina operat-ing
337 exchanges connecting 39,731 business and 63,706 residence
phones with 25,507 miles of wire. With fifty telephone posts to the
mile, and this is a low average, this mileage requires 1,275,350 posts to
support the lines. The only durable woods we have for telephone posts
are black locust, red cedar and juniper. As time goes on the wisdom
of conserving these three woods for fence and telephone posts will
become increasingly apparent.
In the forests and parks of Portugal, there is everywhere displayed a
sign which makes a tree speak thus to the wayfarer and to humanity
:
"Ye who pass by and would raise your hand against me. hearlven ere you
harm me.
"I am ttie heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, the friendly shade
screening you from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing draughts
quenching your thirst as you journey on.
"I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed
on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
12 Biennial Report
"I am the handle of your hoe, the door of j'our homestead, the wood of your
cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
"I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
"Ye who pass me by. listen to my prayer : Harm me not."
In my address before tlie State Forestry Association a year ago at
"Washington, N. C, I called attention to the following facts
:
I find by an examination of the records that in 1923 ISTorth Carolina
contained 334,448 acres in JNTational forests, 300 acres in State forests,
1,225 acres in State Parks, and 2,200 acres belonging to State Institu-tions,
half of which was, perhaps, in forest growths.
The report of the last census shows that in 1912-14-15 ISTorth Caro-lina
ranked fourth as a timber producing state, but that in 1920 it
ranked ninth in this respect.
There is little doubt that much more extensive and profitable forest
areas can be created and maintained in I^orth Carolina than we find
here today. The census of 1920 shows that we had in ISTorth Carolina
at that time 8,240,795 acres of improved farm lands and 11,805,619
acres of unimproved farm lands. Of course, all of these unimproved
acres of farm lands were not set to timber, but, as a rule, we all know
that throughout ISTorth Carolina abandoned lands are pretty soon re-seeded
and set to young forest growths; and we could hardly be in-correct
if we should state that at least one-half of these unimproved acres
are partly set to young forest growths at present. Many of these unim-proved
acres represent lands that were cleared in the early history of
the State, then "worn out" and abandoned.
In recent years, however, we have learned that it is much easier and
cheaper, by the use of modern methods, to revive these abandoned tracts
and bring them into a high state of cultivation than to clear virgin
territory, take out the stumps, subdue its wild nature, and reduce it to
easily tillable land. We find, therefore, a wide-spread tendency on the
part of our farmers to allow old lands that have become fairly well set
to forest growths to remain so occupied, and turn their attention to the
reclaiming of lands that were once thought too poor to plow.
Of course there is much land surface in the State that is too steep
and too rocky to be disturbed by the plow and these areas must of neces-sity
remain in timber. It appears, therefore, that in these regions only
the service of the expert forester in managing the annual cut of mature
timber would be required^ but throughout the more level areas of the
State there are many cases in which these old lands might better be
left to reforestation, either by artificial or by natural agencies, and
thus extend our forest areas.
There are some things, however, that work against this increase of
forest areas in the more level parts of the State. Of course, as popula-tions
increase more land must be brought under cultivation; but this
tendency may be largely offset, or, at least, its progress greatly retarded,
by the fact that scientific agriculture has already, and will in the future,
Commissioner of Agriculture 13
enable the farmer to produce as mucli on one acre as he produced on
five thirty years ago. The farmer, however, is faced with this one
economic proposition that is difficult for him to get around, namely : that
all of his acres are taxed alike, and that since taxes must be paid every
year all of his acres should be made to produce enough to support
themselves, at least to the extent of paying the taxes annually required.
It would seem, therefore, that if our Legislatures could devise a means
whereby newly forested lands, which cannot produce any revenue
whatever under twenty to thirty years, could take a lower rate of taxa-tion
than those under improvement, or which are set to well matured
forests, our farmers would be encouraged to cultivate fewer acres more
intensively and allow all poorer acres to become set in forest growths for
the production of timber and fuel in the years to come.
The terms of the following members of the board expire March first
:
First District, F. P. Latham, Belhaven; Fourth District, Clarence Poo,
Raleigh; Seventh District, C. C. Wright, Hunting Creek; Tenth Dis-trict,
Mrs. Edith K. Yanderbilt, Biltmore.
Following are the biennial reports of the different divisions of the
Department of Agriculture which will show the different lines of work
of the Department and the progress made since 1922 :
ANALYTICAL DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir:—I beg to present herewith a brief report of the work of the
Division of Agricultural Chemistry for the two years,, December 1, 1922
to N'ovember 30, 1924
:
The Analytical Division can make a report of considerable progress
during the past two years. Its new laboratories have recently been
completed and equipped with substantial laboratory tables, desk and
other necessary permanent equipment. With our new quarters and
with the new equipment installed, we feel that greatly increased effi-ciency
and service will follow.
Analyses of fertilizers and various fertilizer materials, cottonseed
meal, soils and miscellaneous products of an agricultural nature have
been made in the usual way and with satisfactory results, the results hav-ing
been published at the usual times in the bulletin of the Department,
with such comm.ents and information as seemed desirable and of interest
and value to those interested in these materials.
The amount and kind of chemical work done in the laboratory during
the two years—December 1, 1922 to JSTovember 30, 1924, is given in the
following summary of analyses made in that time.
Official samples of fertilizers 4,000
Fertilizers and fertilizer materials for farmers 480
Cottonseed meal 450
Limes, limestones, and marls 110
Mineral waters 55
Miscellaneous 75
Soils 200
Total 5,370
) Respectfully submitted,
W. Gr. Haywood,
Fertilizer Chemist.
THE BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATIONS
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—I am submitting lierewitli a report for the Branch Experiment
Stations to be published in the biennial report of the Department
of Agriculture. I trust this will meet with your approval.
This report will be in the form of a summary of the many lines of
investigational work being conducted on the central and seven branch
experiment stations. Special emphasis will be given to the kinds of
work on the different stations due to their locations and to the improve-ments
and notable results since the last biennial report. A detail re-port
of projects will be covered in the following reports of the subject-matter
divisions.
The stations are very favorably located to render service to the farm-ers
over the State. The Central and Swine Research Station at Ealeigh
deal with strictly research projects and some of the more general farm
problems. The six outlying stations are located on the principal soil
regions of the State and are concerned with the problems of their respec-tive
regions. At present 176 approved projects are being conducted on
the experiment stations. These relate directly or indirectly to practi-cally
every phase of agTiculture, and the solution of these problems is
important to the future development of a successful agriculture.
Cea^tral Experimekt Station—Kai^eigh
The program of work on this station is to deal with problems of a
research nature as it offers better equipped laboratories for technical
studies. Some of the more general farm problems are also dealt with.
The station being located adjacent to the State College gives the agri-cultural
students the opportunity of studying the different experimental
projects under way.
The outstanding research problem of the Animal Industry Division
is to determine the effect of cotton meal upon the growth and reproduc-tion
of cows. Some very striking results have been obtained from this
experiment which will have much influence on the amounts of cotton-seed
meal that can safely be used in dairy rations. The early results
have shown that feeding excessive amounts of cottonseed meal causes
abortion, weak calves and soft bone, and that the milk produced from
cows receiving such rations fails to produce normal growth with calves.
During the past year the cottonseed meal was supplemented in various
ways by the use of calcium carbonate, butter fat, cod liver oil, yeast,
mineral steam bone meal and wheat, embry, and with the view of deter-mining
the cause of the ill-effect in feeding excessive amounts of cotton-seed
meal.
16 Biennial Report
The poultry work deals with, diseases of fowls, breeding studies, feed-ing
tests, marketing experiments, problems in incubation, and studies of
the general pathology of the fowl. Much valuable information has been
secured from these tests which is used by the poultrymen of the State,
and in the poultry class at the State College.
The agronomy tests include seed selection and improvement, variety
tests, fertilizer studies. The information gained here is used in advising
general farm practices for the section and classroom studies.
Swine Research Station—Eaxeigh
The station of seventy-six acres is located just South of Raleigh, and
is given over entirely to investigational work with swine. The brick
buildings formerly used by the Veterinary Division for making serum
have been rearranged to meet the requirements of the swine work making
available a nutrition barn, farrowing barn, feed barn and laboratory
which includes room for slaughtering, curing meat, mixing feed, and
office. The farm has been arranged into a system of pastures and feeding
lots, which as a whole is ideal for swine experimental work.
The problem of "Soft Pork" is given first consideration in the inves-tigational
work, and the following projects are being conducted
:
To determine the length of time necessary to make pigs soft on pea-nuts,
and the length of time necessary to harden them after they have
been made soft.
For effect of various amounts of peanuts on body carcasses, ten pigs
sixty to eighty pounds in weight were fed individually for approximately
one hundred and fifteen days.
For effect on body carcass of the same quantity of peanuts being
fed to each pig, four pigs averaging 125 pounds each were individually
fed for about one hundred and ninety-five days.
The adequacy of the protein in peanut meal for supporting growth
when fed properly otherwise supplemented ration was tried on a sixty
pound pig.
For the effect on body carcass of rice feeding following peanut
feedings, pigs of weaning age are being used.
To determine the effect upon carcasses of seventy-five to one hundred
pigs which have been fed peanuts or soybeans for eight weeks, with a
subsequent feeding on corn and tankage for twelve weeks. The results,
show that pigs fed peanuts or soybeans for eight weeks followed by a
feeding period of twelve weeks on corn and tankage did not kill out
strictly hard.
Other tests in determining the cost of raising pigs to weaning age (8
weeks), and feeding tests in connection with pasture crops are under
way.
The Duroc Jersey breed of swine is used exclusively on the station and
sufficient number of brood sows are maintained to raise all pigs re-quired
for the different investigations.
Commissioner of Agriculture 17
Blackland Experiment Station—Wenona
This station is located on a typical area of the black lands which
extend from Virginia well down in Eastern ISTorth Carolina. One of
the largest developments in the last few years have been on these lands.
"With the drainage canals and lateral ditches thousands of acres of this
fertile soil have been cleared and brought into cultivation, which has
attracted many settlers from outside the State. Much information is
needed on the methods of handling these muck soils for best crop re-sults,
and the work on the station is planned with the view of working
out a practical solution of some of the fundamental problems confront-ing
the blackland farmers.
Drainage.—The drainage investigations have proven the value of the
tile drainage for these muck soils. This was doubtful at the beginning
of the test for two reasons; one that with the extremely flat grade re-quired
in laying such tile it would tend to fill up because of muck seeping
through; the other, that as this black soil settles the tile lines would
sag out of grade and thus ruin the drainage. However, 3.6 miles of tile
are now in use on the station farm, and it works perfectly; some of the
lines have been in use for eight years. The size of tile ranges from
four to fifteen inches and is laid at a minimum depth of four feet. The
grade used varies from one-half to one inch per hundred feet. The
lines are spaced 330 feet apart; this being the standard spacing for all
open ditches in this section.
Agronomy.—Corn has been the only money crop so far tried that
succeeds well the first year after clearing, but the practice of contin-uous
cropping with corn, even though lime has been applied, tends to
decrease the original yield. More information is needed on the value
of fertilizers and crops that can be grown in rotation with corn. "With
this in view, a three-year fertilizer rotation test was started on the
station last year : the first year, corn ; second year, spring oats, followed
by soybeans for seed or hay ; third year, Irish potatoes, followed by soy-beans
for seed or hay. Considerable information was gained in the first-year
test, the oats and soybeans making a very favorable showing.
The lime test conducted further proved that lime is essential to the
production of corn and soybeans and that finely ground limestone is
better than marl or hydrated lime.
The fertilizer experiments indicate that stable manure, nitrate of
soda and kainit applied separately or in combination will increase the
yield of corn. Acid phosphate seems to have very little, if any, value
when used alone or in combination with other materials.
The experiments with truck crops, culture practices, hay crop, pas-ture
mixtures and seed improvement have been continued with favor-able
results.
Swine Investigations.—The hog work at the station probably at-tracts
m.ore attention than any other phase of the experimental work.
2
18 Biennial Repokt
The feeding experiments in 1922 proved that fish meal and shelled corn
were better than tankage and shelled corn from the standpoint of gain
and cost.
This year soybean meal was tested against fish meal as to its feeding
value and tests to determine the best grazing crops for swine are under-way
and will be reported on in the next report.
The general crop land is planted to hay and oats and corn with the
view of producing sufficient feed for work-stock and supplying corn for
the extensive hog experiments. Under the present plan two carload of
hogs from the feeding tests will be marketed each year. The car of fifty
hogs shipped in August, 1924, brought 10% cents per pound in Rich-mond
which netted the station $1,052.80 after deducting freight and
hauling charges.
Improveinents.-—The following items of improvements have been com-pleted
since the last report which will facilitate the economic manage-ment
of the station as a whole and greatly add to the general appearance.
ISTew engine and pump house, additional room, porch and bath-room on
tenant house, ISTo. 1 : Septic tank, 500 feet of water line to all hog lots,
fenced four acres additional hog lots, painted horse barn, corn crib,
seven hog farrowing houses, water tank and engine house ; new system of
fences around poultry lots and tenant houses; new central hog feeding
house, and new implement shed 34 x 60 feet with loft above for storage.
CoASTAx Plain Experiment Station—Willard
The experimental work at this station deals with the kind of farming
for the lower coastal plain region of the State, and much valuable infor-mation
has been secured from the many lines of investigational work
which is being used generally by the farmers of the section. The long
time experiments have been carried forward with good results. Several
new projects have been added to the program of work, and many im-portant
improvements have been made during the past two years.
New Undertahings.—The station has undertaken a project of grow-ing
narcissus bulbs. The Government embargo on these bulbs becomes
effective in 1926 thus shutting off an importation of 77,000,000 bulbs
annually. It is believed that no section of the country is better adapted
to the production of narcissus and the station is attempting to lead the
way, and at the same time gain experience which will permit it to advise
others who take up this industry. The station has purchased approxi-mately
65,000 bulbs. These are being planted, and the flowers will be
sold annually to help defray maintenance costs. In 1926 mother bulbs
will be sold under a contract we now hold, and there will be left an ac-cumulation
of smaller bulbs that will permit a sale of mother bulbs
annually thereafter.
In cooperation with the Agronomy Division, a pasture experiment
consisting of ten different experimental plantings has been made; also
a seed breeding project has been started during the year for the improve-
COMMISSIONEK OF AGRICULTURE 19
ment of ISTorfolk Early Market corn (a leading truck crop of tlie sec-tion),
and Cokes Prolific corn, the variety of field corn recommended for
this section.
The station has purchased a four months old bull calf whose pedigree
includes the only two gold medal Jersey bulls south of the Mason and
Dixon line.
Three acres of strawberries (a leading money crop of the section)
have been interplanted with the Muscadine utilization vineyard. This
demonstration of "two-story horticulture" has already attracted consider-able
attention.
A collection of fifteen varieties of Japanese Persimmons, six varieties
of figs and three varieties of native plums have been added to the
orchard plantings.
One acre of dewberries has been planted which includes the important
varieties and will serve as a valuable demonstration for the section.
Improvements.—The improvements made during the past two years
have materially benefited the station and added to its efficiency. The
implement shed begun in 1922 was completed and put into use, and has
in addition to anticipated use, enabled a better handling of the annual
picnic crowds and the storage of surplus hay that would otherwise have
been stacked in the open. ISTew fences were placed about the dairy, and
additional fencing is underway around the calf lots and pasture. A
new building was added to the dairy group which furnishes the much
needed bull pens and maternity stalls. Some minor improvements in
the dairy barn proper were made to permit the daily removal of manure
from the barn to the fields in manure spreader without other handling.
In 1923 a field (which has been named the "Scott Field" in honor of
the member of the board championing the work) was taken in as farm-ing
land. This required tile drainage, as well as clearing. The result
was that this land heretofore idle, yielded thirty bushels of corn per acre
and a crop of soybeans and fodder to turn under. The work of clearing
and establishing the twenty-six acre permanent pasture has been com-pleted.
The poultry work has been enlarged by fencing three acres additional
in poultry runs and providing two new modern range houses. The ex-perimental
work made possible by this expansion will deal chiefly with
feeding tests in comparing the value of meat meal and milk in poultry
rations.
All buildings on the station have been repaired and painted which
greatly adds to the general appearance of the station as a whole.
The station is now furnished with electric lights, having connected
the electric plant at Wallace.
Notable Results.—The station had developed its dairy to the extent
that it was possible in the spring of 1923 to transfer a herd of twenty
animals to the Mountain Branch Station for the purpose of starting an
experimental dairy there.
20 Biennial Report
In the herd development work the first group of heifers matured J
shows an increased milk production over that of their dams. These
"
daughters were sired by Eminent 19th, No. 78620, and have been bred
to Rumina's King, !N"o. 160969. One of the daughters (Lass G's Ola
"No. 49463) has just completed a test that qualifies her for the American
Jersey Cattle Club's Class AA silver medal. She also becomes State
Champion for her breed and State Class Champion for all breeds.
The tests with peanut meal vs. cottonseed meal for maturing heifers
shows that both feeds appear to grow the animals satisfactorily when
mixed with equal parts of crushed corn, oats and wheat bran.
In determining the value of home-mixed vs. ready-mixed feeds for
milk production, the results show home-mixed feeds are in a large ma-jority
of instances more palatable, produce more milk, and cost consider-ably
less per ton.
In the poultry marketing experiments simple rations as equal parts
corn meal and ground oats with milk give as good results as the more
complex and expensive mixtures.
Several new varieties of Muscadine grapes have been developed in the
grape breeding experiments which are very promising, and additional
information has been secured on the methods of pruning and training
also on the grape utilization work.
The fertilizer test of the Agronomy Division have yielded much data
on rotations and fertilizer, which is generally used by the farmers of the
section. The soybean selection work has progressed to the point of sup-plying
seed to the local farmers at a reasonable price.
The anthracnose project of the Botany Division indicates that the
disease is spread by the boll weevil.
The annual farmers' field day and picnic of the station as a means
of getting the station and farmers together proved a great event,
approximately 5,000 people attended the picnic in automobiles and the
trains, buggies and carts brought their quota. A program of appropri-ate
instruction was prepared, which was followed by inspection trips
over the work of the station.
Upper Coastal Plain Experiment Station—Rocky Mount
The program for work on this station has been maintained to the
extent that the most fundamental problems confronting the farmers of
the upper coastal plain region might be given first consideration. At
present boll weevil control, soil fertility, seed improvement, swine feed-ing
tests, cropping systems and horticultural investigations have been
deemed most important and the experiments now underway are care-fully
planned with the view of supplying new information to the farmers
of the section.
Agronomy (Field D).—The agronomy rotation experiment has been
continued and interesting data has been secured on the importance of
Commissioner of Agriculture 21
well planned rotations against continuous cropping with corn and cot-ton.
This test has been running several years, and will soon be ready for
publication.
This past spring a new series of fertilizer experiments were started
to determine the effect of different formula and applications on maturity
and yield of cotton under boll weevil conditions. The results for this
year showed considerable difference in first picking in favor of high or
reasonably high percentage of acid phosphate, and that a heavier appli-cation
of fertilizer than generally used is profitable. The cotton breed-ing
work is confined to Mexican Big Boll variety. The strain developed
here is meeting with much favor over the cotton growing area of the
State, especially in the coastal plain region and Eastern Piedmont, on
account of its uniformity, yield and length of staple. In the plant to
row tests this year many rows showed unusual production and a l/^g
inch staple. The station planted thirty-five acres this year using the
selected seed from last year's crop and will make close to thirty bales
in spite of the unfavorable weather conditions. The seed from this
cotton have been engaged in advance for planting purposes. Last
winter we distributed 800 bushels of purebred seed over the State from
the 1923 crop, and all reports from the parties using our seed were very
favorable.
This year breeding work has been started with Latham's Double field
corn and Fulghum oats.
The work of producing important strains of seed of the better varie-ties
for the section and distributing them at a fair price to the farmers
in the section is proving a great factor in agricultural uplift.
Horticulture.—A year around farm garden is demonstrated on the
station showing the possibilities of having fresh vegetables for the table
at all seasons.
The variety pecan orchard yielded a heavy crop this year, and the
results were favorable in further proving the better varieties for the
upper coastal plain region, namely, Schley, Stuart, Alley, and Success.
The sweet potato seed selection and improvement work showed good
results, and one hundred bushels of improved Porto Eico and N'ancy
Hall seed potatoes were distributed to growers in Eastern ISTorth Caro-lina
last season. With the new modern sweet potato storage house com-pleted
in 1923, storage tests were conducted to determine best method
of storing sweet potatoes, also the storage qualities of different commer-cial
varieties.
Swine Investigations.—^With the purebred herd of Hampshire hogs
and the new equipment added last year, the feeding test this year have
furnished considerable information. As stated in the last report the
primary object of the hog work here is to determine the best method
and cost of carrying a purebred herd under average farm conditions.
This is to include the value of different feeds, pasture crops and utiliz-ing
all the so called waste from the farm. The experiments underway
22 Biennial Report
are: To determine tlie value of a combination of peanuts and sweet
potatoes and the effect on body carcass ; to determine tbe value of sweet
potatoes when fed to bogs ; to determine tbe value of bogging off corn
and soybeans grown togetber and tbe effect on tbe body carcass; to de-termine
tbe cost of raising pigs to weaning age under various conditions
and seasons; to determine tbe practicability of gleaning soybeans and
peanut fields witb pigs in pork production, and to determine tbe adapt-ability
of breeds of swine to various conditions in tbe State.
Tbe data from tbe sweet potato feeding test were especially noticeable.
Cull sweet potatoes were used in tbe first test wbicb bad very little, if
any, market value. Tbe results sbow tbat witb corn at $1 per busbel
and fish meal at $60 per ton, tbe cull sweet potatoes were worth 34
cents per busbel wben fed alone, and 25 cents per busbel wben fed witb
2 per cent corn. Tbe pigs were sold at a premium on tbe local market
because of their excellent quality.
In the second sweet potato test in 1923 pigs were turned into tbe field
and allowed to harvest the crop. They also had access to a self feeder
containing fish meal and mineral mixture. Because of dry weather that
year the yield of sweet potatoes was rather low, since the average area
harvested yielded only 105 bushels per acre, but despite this yield of
potatoes 360 pounds of pork per acre was produced, which is greater than
that from other crops of comparable yields, and in addition the pigs
handled in this way "killed out hard."
Improvements.—The improvements added during the past two years
have facilitated the handling of experimental and general cropwork,
and have increased tbe efficiency of the station as a whole.
A new modern central bog house has been constructed to take care of
the sows at farrowing time, and to provide space for individual dry lot
feeding tests.
A new system of fencing has been installed for tbe hog pastures with
water connections in each lot.
Tbe four tenant bouses have been repaired, and are now in good con-dition
which will enable the farm to hold good labor. Two acres of
waste lands have been cleared and are now in grazing crops for the
hogs.
A new fence has been built around the seven and one-half acre pecan
orchard which adds a great deal to tbe appearance, and provides addi-tional
hog pasture.
The drainage system on the back side of the farm has been improved
thereby bringing into cultivation several acres of land which heretofore
have been idle for want of drainage.
The main drainage ditch through the farm has been straightened and
made deeper which improves the drainage of the pecan orchard and most
of the cultivated lands.
A new and attractive office building was completed last spring fur-nishing
office space and laboratories for tbe administrative and investiga-tional
workers.
Commissioner of Agriculture 23
The superintendent's house has been enlarged and remodeled and is
now a very creditable farm home.
A landscape design has been prepared for the station grounds and
some progress has been made with the shrubbery plantings.
The general farm work is planned as near as possible to produce
feed for the farm work stock and the hog feeding experiments, and to
produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
"While the experimental work is given first consideration, it is im-portant
that our general farm work should be above the average, and
should serve as an example of good farm practises for the upper coastal
plain region. This station is having more calls than ever before for in-formation,
as the boll weevil has about convinced the farmer that it
will be necessary to do better farming than they have been doing.
The second annual field day was held last August with very gratifying
results, and it was voted to make this an annual big farmers day for the
section. About 2,000 people attended the meeting and all seemed very
much interested in the work of the station.
MoTJNTAiisr Experiment Station—Swannanoa
The mountain section of the State embraces the large high plateau >-
area extending from the Tennessee line, and including the irregular
chain of mountains known as the Blue Ridge. The average elevation
of these mountains is around 4,000 feet, although its highest peak,
Mount Mitchell, is 6,711 feet above the sea. The foot hills and river
valleys range from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in altitude, and the soils of this
area are very fertile, although the mountain sides, in many cases, are
cultivated profitably up to their summits.
The Mountain station is located in the Swannanoa River valley, on
the hard-surfaced road between Asheville and Black Mountain, with an
altitude of 2,600 feet. The mean annual temperature being 55.4 degrees,
and the annual precipitation 57.04 inches. The station consists of 305
acres which represent the typical soils of the region. This section has
great agricultural possibilities principally with fruit, truck crops,
dairying, poultry and pasture crops, and the work on the experimental
farm is planned with the view of developing these industries.
The work on the station has grown a great deal in the past two years,
and many improvements in the way of buildings and equipment have
been made. The two major projects added to the work are poultry and
dairy investigations; and modern equipment has been provided to take
care of these important projects. The horticultural work has been en-larged,
and two additional acres were planted with apples to further
provide for the fertilizer and pruning experiments.
Agronomy.—The fertilizer and rotation tests were carried forward
another year, and the results have furnished valuable information for
general farming in the section.
Field A.—Soil fertility and rotation studies with corn, wheat and
red clover. The results indicate that phosphoric acid, nitrogen and
24
" Biennial Report
lime are needed to produce large yields, and that phosphoric acid is
the foremost plant food requirement.
Field B.—Rotation and soil type tests showing the effect of continuous
cropping in comparison with well planned two and three-year rotations
where legumes are used.
Field D.—Rock phosphate tests in rotations of corn, wheat and red
clover. The results so far secured show that acid phosphate is a more
economical carrier of phosphoric acid than is rock phosphate on this
soil.
Field F.—Special potash test, in rotation, consisting of Irish potatoes,
corn, wheat and red clover. The different sources of potash used have
not materially affected the yield of potatoes, and the normal fertilizer
used of 800 pounds of an 8-4-6 seems to give best results.
Field Gr.—To compare phosphoric materials with a complete ferti-lizer,
with limestone and stable manure; the results indicate the lime-stone
and manure with fertilizers give better results than where ferti-lizer
is used alone.
The seed selection and improvement work has been mainly with soy-beans,
Haberlandt Wo. 38 and Biggs field corn, strain ]^o. 17. Tests are
also conducted with wheat, oats, and soybeans. The results have been
very favorable, and the station has been growing these improved seed
for distribution to the farmers of the section.
Horticulture.—The mountain region of the State offers great possi-bilities
as a leading horticultural area in the union, and the projects
underway at the station are to deal with the most fundamental problems.
The following experiments are underway which have already furnished
much information to the industry.
Apple Pruning.—This is one of the outstanding experiments of the
station, and will furnish much needed information on the value of
different systems and different amounts of pruning apple trees. The
results so far secured indicate that growers have been pruning too
severely, thereby causing a reduction in fruit production.
Other tests with apples are to determine the value of thinning on
the size of fruit and fruit-bud formation ; the value of different varieties,
cultural methods and fertilizers.
The work with peaches deals with varieties as to hardiness in Western
ISTorth Carolina. Attention is also given to value of small fruit varieties
and cultural methods.
The truck crop investigations include cabbage variety tests, Irish
potato seed production, Irish potato hill and tuber unit, seed selection
and vegetable garden studies. The results of the Irish potato seed pro-duction
indicate that Western ISTorth Carolina seed potatoes are superior
to JN'orthern grown seed for our spring crop in Eastern ISTorth Carolina.
Animal Industry.—The work on this station comprises poultry and
dairy investigations, and thoroughly modern plants have been provided
to handle each department.
Commissioner of Agrictjltuke 25
The poultry plant which was completed last year is a very creditable
addition to the station and consists of the following : five-room dwelling
for poultryman, incubator house with feed room and laboratory com-bined,
four 16' X 24' brooder houses, one 20' x 50' half monitor house for
the breeding flock, one 20' x 100' half monitor laying house, and ten
acres of land fenced into poultry lots for grazing. The poultry work is
to deal with the problems peculiar to the mountain section, and the
following experiments are under way:
1. "Studies in building up a farm flock." The breeding flocks, two in
number, consist of single-comb Ehode Island Eeds and single-comb
White Leghorns. The two flocks contain 150 hens each, with 12 cockerels.
Twelve hens laid during the past year between 200 and 258 eggs each,
several of which were State records.
2. Feeding tests are being conducted to determine the kinds and
amounts of feed for the breeding flocks.
3. The range experiments are to determine the methods of handling
and the suitability of different pasture crops per chickens in the moun-tain
section of the State.
4. One unit of 500 single-comb White Leghorns is maintained as an
experimental commercial unit.
5. Incubation experiments in connection with the two breeding flocks
are carried on in view of developing high producing flocks.
6. Studies in determining the cost of putting birds into the laying
house by ISTovember 1st are under way.
7. Fattening tests are being conducted to determine the value of milk
feeding young chickens before marketing.
8. Studies are made in the cost of marketing eggs and poultry.
The poultry work for the year gave very satisfactory results, and
further indicates that it is a profitable industry for the mountain sec-tion
of the State, if handled in an intelligent manner.
The dairy work which was started in the spring of 1923 is to deal
with the problems of the dairyman in the western part of the State.
A herd of twenty Jersey cattle was transferred to the station from the
Coastal Plain Station at Willard, and a herd bull of Eminent breeding
has been purchased. The necessary equipment has been added to handle
the project as follows : dairy barn complete with concrete fioor and
mangers, the necessary water connections and drains, stanchions to ac-commodate
28 animals, feed room and milk room, and a one-hundred-ton
concrete silo connecting with the feed alley, a thoroughly modern milk
house with boiler room, washing room and milk room equipped with
Babcock tester, cream separator, milk cooler and sterilizer, calf barn
18' X 60' with two bull pens combined and loft above for storage.
The experimental work at present deals with feeding and pasture
tests, herd development and management and marketing dairy products.
Plans are under way to build a small cheese laboratory in connection
with the dairy and conduct experiments in marketing Swiss cheese.
26 BiENisriAL Repokt
Aside from tlie improvements in dairy and poultry plants, an attrac-tive
new spring lionse lias been built of native rock combining engine
and pump room, milk cooling room and a section given over to tiie
spring. A new garage also bas been constructed to bouse tbe station
automobile, truck and tractor,
A new five-room dwelling for tlie dairyman was built last spring,
a fruit and vegetable storage house lias been recently completed wbich.
will provide storage for the good crop of apples and Irish potatoes pro-duced
on the station this year.
The general farm land is handled in a way to demonstrate good farm-ing
methods for the section, to produce feed for the work stock, dairy
and poultry, and to produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
The rapid development of the station has attracted many visitors
seeking information on the various phases or agriculture. The station
is a gathering place for those interested in agriculture, the fertilizer
manufacturers and principals of rural schools with their agricultural
classes; county agents with groups of farmers and many others visit
the station during the year and study the different experiments under
way. The third Thursday in August is set aside for the big annual
Field Day and picnic, which has proved a very popular event, and has
been helpful in getting our work before the farmers throughout the
mountain section. An instructive program is prepared which is followed
by inspection trips to the fields where the different experiments are ex-plained
by the specialist in such a way that the farmer may take home
results and apply them to his conditions.
Piedmont Experiment Station—Statesville
The Piedmont region comprises nearly one-half of the territory of
the State, and the soils and climate are suited to a wide range of agri-cultural
pursuits. The station farm is located pretty well to the center
of this area and the conditions there are typical of the Piedmont section.
The important farm problems for the region are dealt with on the
station farm, and much definite information has already been obtained
on the better farm practices and is being generally used in the section.
Agronomy.—The agronomy experiments are more extensive here than
at any other station in the State. The tests include three series of soil
fertility and rotation tests with cotton, corn, wheat and red clover : Pield
D brings out the value of well planned rotations in comparison with con-tinuous
cropping; Field E—soil type studies; Field F—nitrogenous
materials for corn and cotton; Field Gr—rock phosphate tests; Field K
—
tests with soft phosphates.
The ISTovember bulletin published on Fertilizer Experiments with
Wheat on Piedmont Red Clay Soils and Wheat Culture in ISTorth Caro-lina
is a report on the results of the work with wheat on this station,
1911 to 1921 inclusive, and the information contained therein should be
of great value to the Piedmont farmers.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 27
The seed selection and improvement work has been continued "with
the following crops: Appier oats increased strain INTo. 11, Abruzzi rye
increase strain 'No. 7, Virginia soybeans No. 11, Leaps Prolific wheat
increase strain No. 32, King Cotton strain IsTo. 29, and "Weekly's Im-proved
corn. Variety studies with oats, rye and barley have been
carried on. The results of the breeding work have been very valuable,
and the station is now growing these improved strains and distributing
them to farmers over the Piedmont section at a reasonable cost.
Horticulture.-—-"Work with small fruits, apples, peaches and pears is
under way in determining varieties, methods of cultivation, intercrop-ping,
pruning, spraying and marketing; the results have been most in-structive.
A new four acre experimental apple and peach orchard was
planted in the spring of 1923 which includes some of the newer varie-ties
for the Piedmont. Tests will be conducted with this orchard from
the standpoint of fertilization, pruning and intercropping.
Livestock.—The work here is confined mainly to hogs, sheep and
feeding experiments with the work stock. The main sheep project is
to determine the kind of pasture suited to sheep under Piedmont con-ditions
and some very striking results have been obtained both with
summer and winter pastures. A flock of thirty ewes and one ram is
maintained on the station, and information is secured on the cost of
maintaining breeding ewes and producing lambs. A series of pastures
have been arranged that will provide grazing practically the year round
for the sheep and hog feeding tests.
The swine experiments show that it costs $3.97 to raise pigs to weaning
age and that the number of pigs in the litter has little effect upon the
size of each pig at weaning time. Complete information on the methods
and cost of raising pigs to weaning age is given in a recent bulletin pre-pared
by the Animal Industry Division. Further tests are under way
to determine the value of different grazing crops for swine. Eight pure-bred
Poland China brood sows and a boar are used in these experi-ments.
Feeding tests with the farm work stock show that cottonseed meal
is relished more by horses than mules, and that one and one-half pounds
can be fed daily to work stock. When cottonseed meal is fed the grain
ration is cheapened slightly.
General Crops.—The station farm consists of two hundred and ten
acres, of which seventy acres are devoted to experimental plats, forty
acres to pasture, eighteen acres to orchard, twelve acres to grove, yards,
and garden, and the remainder to general crops. The general crop
lands are handled in a way to demonstrate good farming methods for
the section with the view of growing sufiicient corn, oats and hay for
the livestock, and to produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
Some twenty years ago when the station was established the farmers
were not especially interested in improved methods of farming, but as
the work on the station developed the local interest began to increase
28 Biennial Report
until today the station stands out as an agricultural institution for the
Piedmont area. The popularity of the station is further emphasized
by the attendance at the main farmers field day held last July which
numbered five thousand people. Several smaller meetings were held
during the year with good attendance for the purpose of recreation and
studying the work of the farm. The county agents frequently bring
groups of farmers from adjoining counties to study the results from
the different experiments. These meetings are becoming more popular
each year and are encouraged as they are one of the best means of bring-ing
the farmers in touch with the station, and of getting results of our
work put into practice.
Tobacco Experiment Station—Oxford
The tobacco experimental work here has been continued in coopera-tion
with the TI. S. Department of Agriculture and additional informa-tion
on tobacco culture has been secured. The principal experiraents
under way are fertilizer tests, variety tests, rotation systems for tobacco,
tobacco after cowpeas, permanent tobacco seed beds, potash and lime
experiments, nutrition investigations with continuous cropping, legume
effects and general crop effects.
The results of the magnesium and potash plats were especially out-standing
this year. "Where fairly liberal applications of magnesia were
applied either from dolomitic limestone or double manure salts and
kainit no ''Sand Drown" was prevalent, with the exception of double
manure salts plots where calcite was applied and no lime was applied.
On these two plats small percentage of the plants developed symptoms of
^'Sand Drown" indicating that the amount of available magnesia was
insufficient to mature the large growth of the leaf which prevailed last
season. The tobacco fertilizer plats further proved that cottonseed
meal as an individual source of nitrogen stands highest with nitrate of
soda, dried blood and ammonium sulphate next in order named, al-though
a mixed nitrogen composed of one-fourth of each of the above
ingredients gave satisfactory results. Acid phosphate gave better results
than any of the other sources of phosphate. Muriate of potash produced
tobacco with a larger yield and higher market value than tobacco grown
with high-grade sulphate of potash, although all tests have shown that"
tobacco from sulphate of potash has better burning quality than that
produced with muriate of potash. The test with twenty-five so-called
varieties was conducted and selections were made from each variety with
the object of improving the yield and quality, also some crosses were
made with the view of developing new outstanding varieties.
Experiments with tobacco after cowpeas have been fairly satisfactory,
but in order to get best results from such cropping it is necessary to
plant tobacco close, top high, and harvest by priming, if not, an exces-sive
amount of nitrogen will produce tobacco of poor quality.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 29
Under the direction of this station tobacco demonstration tests were
conducted in Reidsville and Clarkton. These tests furnished first-hand
information to the tobacco growers of the respective localities.
In addition to the experimental work with tobacco some work with
seed corn breeding and selection has been conducted on this station in
comiection with Plant Breeders' Office of the College and Central Sta-tion,
and the results have been helpful in supplying good seed for the
station's use, and some for distribution to the farmers in the section.
Several meetings have been held at the station this year at which
experimental work was studied, results observed in the field with dis-cussions
of various phases.
On August 14th around 1,500 farmers and business men attended
the annual field day at this station, at which several of the members of
the Board of Agriculture and officials of the Department discussed the
object of the Experiment Station work and results obtained. This was
followed by inspection trips to experimental plats. Last year about
.thirty representatives of the fertilizer manufacturers with several ferti-lizer
dealers, business men and farmers met at the station to discuss
fertilizer problems for tobacco. Several county agents brought farmers
to the station to study tobacco problems. In all there has been a larger
number of farmers both locally and from other counties to visit the
station this year than heretofore. The local high schools have taken
more interest in the work this year than previously.
In regard to improvements on the station will state that some pro-gress
has been made in carrying out the landscape plans si^bmitted by
Prof. Mulford of the U. S. Department of Agriculture last spring. A
new garage and poultry house have been built at a nominal cost. Most
of the out-buildings have been painted.
The large drainage project will be completed by the close of the year.
This will add to the value of the farm and greatly improve the general
appearance. The survey, which was prepared by the Drainage Division,
required 1,910 feet of tile, ranging from 8 to 18 inches, 1,500 feet of
6-inch and 3,000 feet of 4-inch tile. This will make fifty acres of land
available for cultivation heretofore idle for lack of proper drainage and
will also benefit the adjoining lands. The new lands will be used for
enlarging the general crop work on the station during the coming year,
and later given over to experimental work as needed.
The crops on the station as a whole have been fairly good this year.
Plenty of feed stuffs have been made for the farm and some to spare.
As a whole the work has progressed satisfactorily both as to experi-ments
and general cropping.
Note.—The insect and plant control measures on all stations are under the
direction of the Entomology and Botany Divisions. The spray calendar for
each station is prepared by these divisions and the actual spraying or dusting
operations are under close supervision.
B. "W. KiLGOEE, Director.
F. E. Miller^ Assistant Director.
MUSEUM
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—I beg t'o submit berewitb my biennial report as Curator of the
State Museum for the years 1923 and 1924.
The chief duties of the Curator during this period have been those
connected with the completion and equipment of the Agricultural
Building, and the rehabilitation and equipment of the Museum Build-ing.
As secretary of the Building Committee and of the Purchasing Com-mittee
of the Department, all the detail work of these committees has
been in my hands, but this work is now largely completed, at the oppor-tune
time when more active work is being taken up in connection with
putting the Museum in condition to again serve the public.
The time of my assistant, Mr. Harry Davis, has also been so occupied,
'
except for that devoted to his work in the identification and analysis
of all the specimens of minerals that come to the Department for exami-nation
and this work is steadily increasing, an average of more than
twenty specimens a month being submitted for examination and analy-sis.
We have added equipment to the Museum Mineralogical Laboratory
so that this part of our work can be handled more effectively, and I wish
to state here that Mr. Davis has proved an invaluable aid in all the
building an^ equijDment work that has been placed with us as well as
in his special lines and in the general work of Museum administration.
We have done what we could in keeping our stored specimens in
some kind of shape, but the crowded condition of the storage makes
this a very difficult problem and we will undoubtedly find a considerable
deterioration in evidence when we start our rearrangement program
after the completion of the remodeling and rehabilitation of the Museum
rooms.
The work of the Museum in the future is going to require more
money than it has in the past. We have done what we could on a
minimum of expenditure,, but we have reached a point now where if
we fail to go forward we will have to go backward—and the Depart-ment
can hardly allow that.
The Museum has been out of commission for two and a half years
and it is still not unusual for several hundred visitors a day to call at
the Agricultural Building, the State Departments Building and the
Museum Building to inquire as to the present location of the Museum,
indicating in a degree to what extent it is being missed by the public.
We have been badly handicapped and delayed in our reconstruction
work by the continued presence of some of the laboratories and their
"jvorkers in the Museum rooms, and it was late in September, 1924,
COMMISSIONEK OF AGRICULTURE 31
before these rooms were finally vacated by tlie last of the DepartmeBt's
forces that had been temporarily housed therein.
Owing to an insufficiency of funds for the completion of all the neces-sary
work, that is, the work in all of the exhibition rooms, it has seemed
best at this time to confine our effort and our remaining funds to eight
of the nine rooms, leaving the largest of them, that on the second floor
on the Salisbury Street side of the building, which is 39 by 95 feet in
size, for future attention.
The seven old rooms of the Museum had remained virtually without
repairs from the time of their erection, a period of from 25 to 28 years.
Their condition was very bad all through. All the old plaster on the
walls had to be removed and replaced, every window frame and sash
needed repairs and all the glass had to be reset.
The acute fire risk on the north side of the building has been largely
eliminated by installing fireproof windows on that side.
The woodwork in all the rooms needs repainting, and the condition
of the floors calls for replacement in some rooms and recovering in all.
But the work is progressing satisfactorily and by the time this report
reaches your hands the plastering (except in Room ISTo. 9 as before in-dicated)
will have been completed. This will be immediately followed
by the painting, and the treatment of the floors will follow that.
The present outlook would indicate that we will have a part of the
Museum open to the public some time during the present winter, and
the remainder will be pushed to completion as fast as the rooms can be
finished and the cases and exhibits renovated, repaired and installed.
The new handsome and dignified entrance on Halifax Street will be
a wonderful improvement over the old arrangement, and we now face
the problem of making the interior equally as much a credit to the
State. And it is to this end that we are now applying our efforts.
We hope and expect to rebuild the Museum into an institution of even
greater value to ISTorth Carolina than it has been in the past, an insti-tution
of which both the Department and the citizenship of the State
may well be proud, and this can be done if we can secure the funds that
are essential to that end. But we cannot make it what it should be with-out
such funds. A museum is now recognized as a visual educational
institution of the highest value to its surrounding population, and it is
•always one of the first items of interest in a city to be visited by both
transient and stay-over visitors. And through such visitors the lessons
taught by the institution are disseminated far and wide. And ours, as
a strictly ISTorth Carolina museum, has been, and can continue to be,
one of the very best advertising and visual educational mediums the
State has ever had. Respectfully submitted,
H. H. Brimley.
Curator, State Museum.
VETERINARY DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sik:—I herewitli submit the biennial report of tbe Veterinary Divi-sion
covering the period from December 1, 1922, to December 1, 1924.
Details bave been omitted in order to make tbe report brief.
Tick Eradication
Since Marcb 3, 1923, we bave conducted tick eradication under tke
tick eradication law enacted by tbe last Legislature. Tbis law divided
tbe quarantine counties (nineteen) into tbree zones—Zone 1 to work in
1923, Zone 2 in 1924, and Zone 3 in 1925. Altbougb we bad a very late
start last year in Zone 1, tbe work was pusbed vigorously, and on De-cember
31, 1923, tbe counties of Gates, Hertford, Bertie, Camden and
Perquimans and tbat portion of Beaufort County lying north of tbe
Pamlico Biver and tbe banks of Dare County from Oregon Inlet to tbe
Currituck County line were released from State and Federal quarantine,
leaving only a few infested premises in tbese counties to be worked
during tbe 1924 season. "We did not complete tbe work in Currituck
County in 1923 on account of tbe county commissioners not getting tbe
vats finished until very late in the season. Dipping was continued in
this county this season and the county was released from quarantine
August 1, 1924.
As you know, Currituck County borders on Princess Anne County,
Virginia, on the north. There is a strip of land in Currituck County
between Currituck Sound and the ocean known as tbe Banks, which
extends into the State of Virginia. I recently visited this section and
found at the State line that this strip of land (the Banks) was between
two and three miles wide. The ocean side is a sand bed and the sound
side is more or less wooded. I also found that this was open range with
a number of cattle on it that go over the State line at will. We have a
vat located just below the State line and dip all of our cattle regularly,
and also dip some Virginia cattle. There is a vat in Virginia, just over
the line, but not all of the cattle are being properly dipped. There is a
possibility of our cattle becoming reinfested by ticky cattle from Vir-ginia,
making it necessary for us to continue to inspect the cattle on this
range at frequent intervals.
Active tick eradication was started in Zone 2, comprising tbe counties
of Martin, Washington, Tyrrell, Hyde, Dare and that portion of Beau-fort
County lying south of the Pamlico Eiver on January 1, 1924. The
work was conducted vigorously and all of tbese counties will be released
from State and Pederal quarantine December 1, 1924. Dipping has
been discontinued at this time in Zone 2 except those herds which it
was necessary to keep in quarantine.
Commissioner of Agriculture 33
Ntjmbee of Herds or Premises and ISTumber of Cattle to be Held in
Quarantine in Zone 2
Martin—three premises—three herds—fifty-tliree cattle.
Washington—one premise—no cattle.
Tyrrell—twenty-eight premises—twenty-eight herds—one hundred twenty-four
cattle.
Dare—two premises—thirty-eight herds—one hundred thirty cattle.
Hyde—seventy premises—seventy herds—six hundred fifty-six cattle.
Beaufort (south of Pamlico River)—three premises-^three herds—fifty-two
cattle.
There will also remain under quarantine at tlie end of this season
twenty-six premises or herds outside of Zones 2 and 3.
We have met with the boards of county commissioners of the counties
in Zone 3 with a view of having them build vats and otherwise prepare
these counties for systematic tick eradication in 1926. All of the coun-ties
in Zone 3 are now constructing vats, and we hope to have these coun-ties
ready for systematic tick eradication January 1, 1925. Zone 3 com-prises
4,466 square miles, and it will require approximately 450 vats.
In Zone 1 there are 3,384 square miles of territory, requiring 388 vats.
In Zone 2 there are 2,441 square miles and 236 vats. During 1923 there
was dipped 112,300 herds of 388,624 cattle and 625 herds of 1,473
ponies. During the ten months ending October 31, 1924, we dipped
78,709 herds of 259,868 cattle and 4,350 herds of 8,219 ponies.
One of the greatest problems we have to deal with is wild or semi-wild
cattle. All of this territory prior to January 1, 1922, was under
free range, and while stock law is now being generally observed, there
are many large community pastures and many swamps in which wild
or semi-wild cattle roam at large. We have encountered wild cattle in
all of the counties in Zones 1 and 2. The approximate number being as
follows
:
Zone 1 Zone 2
Camden 300 Martin 25
Currituck 100 Washington 15
Perquimans 75 Tyrrell 150
Gates 25 Dare 200
Hertford 15 Hyde 400
Bertie 25 Beaufort 100
The wild cattle have been captured or slaughtered in all of the above
counties, except Tyrrell and Hyde, and we believe that this work will be
completed in these two counties by January 1, 1925. It has been neces-sary
in a good many instances to trail these cattle with dogs like deer
in order to slaughter or capture them. The difficult part of this is to
capture or slaughter the last few cattle in a swamp. Some of these
cattle range over an area fifteen by thirty miles. This has been the most
difficult tick eradication encountered in any state, due to these wild
cattle and to the lack of interest in better cattle by cattle owners. In
3
34 BiENisriAL Report
order to complete tick eradication in any county it is necessary to free
all cattle of ticks. "We nave placed the responsibility of getting these
cattle on the owners, and in this we have been upheld by the courts.
These cattle are in most instances a nuisance and of little value.
During the extra session of the Legislature in August, 1924, a bill
was introduced amending the Tick Eradication Law in such a way as
to make the law not apply to wild cattle. This bill was finally defeated.
If the Tick Eradication Law was so amended it would make the com-pletion
of tick eradication impossible. "We have received spleiadid co-operation
from the courts in enforcing the Tick Eradication Law. Most
of the counties have cooperated in a satisfactory manner.
Tuberculosis Eradication
Tuberculosis eradication in animals has progressed during the year
in a very satisfactory manner. Practically all of this work is done
under the area plan; that is, the testing of all cattle in a county. This
work is conducted in cooperation with the U. S. Bureau of Animal In-dustry
and the several boards of county commissioners. The following
counties have completed the work
:
Scotland Cumberland Alamance Durham
Rowan Cabarrus Wayne Franklin
Pender Buncombe Mecklenburg Halifax
New Hanover Forsyth Stokes Lenoir
Davie Robeson Guilford
Wilson Greene Stanly
Davidson Iredell McDowell
We have more counties that have completed tuberculosis eradication
than all of such counties combined in the other states.
The work is now being conducted in the following counties
:
Rutherford Wake Cleveland Chowan
Union Gaston Moore Edgecombe
Rockingham Northampton Pitt Henderson
Randolph Warren Anson Richmond
Polk Surry Hoke
Transylvania Johnston Person
The work will be completed in several of these counties at an early
date.
The following counties have recently made an appropriation for
this work: Burke, Yancey. Work will be started in these counties at
an early date.
From IsTovember 1, 1922, to IsTovember 1, 1924, there has been tested
227,275 cattle. Of this number 965, or less than one-half of one per
cent, were found to be affected with tuberculosis. All of the tuberculous
animals were slaughtered and the owners were indemnified in accordance
with the law covering. During the two-year period we have paid 816
claims amounting to $26,881.14.
Commissioner of Agriculture 35
Summary of Testing Cattle Reactors
1918 1 4,358 104
1919 : 7,445 168
1920 10,389 219
1921 23,402 385
1922 114,296 785
1923 104,030 499
1924 (10 months) 102,326 381
As previously stated we now have a total o£ forty-nine counties co-operating
in this work. Included in tliis number are most of the
richer counties of the State that were able to pay for this work without
any trouble whatever. "We now have left fifty-one counties to work.
Many of these counties are not at this time financially able to take up
this work unless material assistance is given by this Department and
the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
I believe that it is important that this work be completed in all coun-ties
as rapidly as possible, thus preventing reinfestation of the counties
already completed. The infection is light in these counties at this time
and it will cost much less to complete the work now than if we wait until
the disease has spread further. In view of this, I believe that this De-partment
should allow a very liberal appropriation for this work or
secure same from the Legislature and a law should be enacted requiring
all cattle in the remaining counties to be tested.
Hog Cholera
We have had some hog cholera but not as much as in previous years.
There are many sections where cholera seems to exist at all times. Al-though
hog cholera serum can be absolutely depended upon to control
cholera, there are many owners who will not vaccinate their hogs until it
is too late.
The feeding of raw garbage and the shipping of hogs for immediate
slaughter into the State are responsible for a considerable part of our
cholera. We are constantly trying to control this, but they are difficult
problems to handle. We now require those who desire to receive hogs
for immediate slaughter to maintain proper facilities for handling
them, and to use them for immediate slaughter only. We require such
establishments to have a permit, and we frequently inspect the premises.
Just at this time we have no one regularly employed on hog-cholera
work. We are taking care of outbreaks and giving assistance, where
needed, with the inspection force of this office, who also look after out-breaks
of other contagious diseases.
Our practicing veterinarians are becoming more numerous and the
livestock owners are fast learning the value of veterinary service.
There has been a decided decrease in hog cholera in the eastern part
of the State as a result of the stock law. From ISTovember 1, 1922, to
ISTovember 1, 1924, we have distributed 3,750,965 c.c. of serum—a de-cided
decrease over previous years.
36 Biennial Repoet
Investigations
About the usual number o£ investigations on reported outbreaks of dis-eases
liave been made by inspectors of this office. We have had no serious
outbreaks of disease during this period, but we have had numerous re-ports
which have been investigated. Two animals affected with glanders
have been found and destroyed. Frequent visits are made to the inspec-tors
engaged in tick eradication work and tuberculosis eradication work.
Both of these projects are being conducted on a large scale and close
supervision is necessary. We have also made frequent visits to the ex-periment
stations and State institutions to look after the livestock on
these farms.
In order to do effective work in the control and eradication of con-tagious
diseases of livestock it is essential that a diagnostic laboratory
be available. We feel constantly the need of such a laboratory at the
present time to check up on the field work which we are doing. The
states of Georgia and South Carolina require that all cattle shipped into
those states shall first pass a negative blood test for contagious abortion.
Our farmers who desire to ship cattle into those states must depend
upon blood samples being sent out of the State to commercial labora-tories,
thus causing expense, delay, and inconvenience. If we are to
conduct investigations for the control of contagious abortion and for
the control and eradication of internal parasites of livestock, it is very
necessary that we have a diagnostic laboratory.
Eespectfully submitted,
William Mooee,
State Veterinarian.
ANIMAL INDUSTRY DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—In response to your request for a biennial report, I am pleased
to furnish, you with a rather complete summary of the work performed
by the Animal Industry workers, embracing research and extension for
the period ending November 30, 1924.
I am sure you realize fully that it would be practically impossible to
furnish you with the many details of the work in research and exten-sion
as conducted during the year. In order that you may have a com-prehensive
idea of the many problems which are being covered in the
two above lines of work, I have included a list of the various offices in
the division and the personnel of each. Each worker has a number of
definitely outlined projects and the magnitude of work under way can
thus be visualized without difficulty.
For your information and guidance I wish to say that this division
has twenty-nine definitely outlined projects in livestock research, ex-clusive
of poultry, which work was conducted under the auspices of this
division during the last fiscal year. The extension workers of the divi-sion
have thirty-nine definitely outlined projects, making a total of
sixty-eight projects in all.
At the conclusion of the report covering the work of the current year,
I am attaching a list of these projects with a brief outline of each. I
am sure that by having these before you you will be enabled to make a
more exhaustive study of the problems under way.
If there is any additional information which you need I will be pleased
to furnish it upon request, I wish to again mention that the informa-tion
which I am giving you is merely a brief outline covering the various
projects, giving the high lights in each with a statement of progress
or results obtained, as the case may be.
The following is the report by offices embraced in the division
:
ANIMAL NUTRITION
J. O. HAI.VERSON, In Charge
F. W. Sherwood, Assistant
H. A. DiCKERT, Assistant
The following soft-pork studies, as reported by Dr. Halverson, are in co-operation
witlL Mr. Hostetler, in charge of Swine Investigations
:
1. SoFT-PoKK Investigations
(a) Soft-Pork Experiment IX.—This work was conducted for the purpose
of determining the effect of various amounts of peanuts on the body carcasses
of young weaned pigs which were fed individually on the above ration for a
period of five months.
38 Biennial Repoet
In this work it was determined that there was a very marked softening
effect on the carcasses of young pigs when fed a peanut ration. The determi-nation
of this fact is of great economic importance, since a large portion of
Eastern North Carolina is well adapted to the growing of peanuts. The
determination of this fact is a step toward overcoming the ultimate conse-quences
of softening feeds when fed to hogs.
(b) Soft-Pork Experiment X.—In this study different methods of feeding
peanuts and hardening feeds were tried. It is a known fact that such feeds
as peanuts and soja beans produce soft carcasses, and that these effects can
be overcome in a measure at least by feeding such rations as corn, digester
tankage, and rice products.
In this particular study three of the pigs fed according to farm practice
killed hard. The other group graded medium hard. All of them passed
market requirements, the results, therefore, being very satisfactory.
(c) Soft-Pork Experiment XI.—Eight pigs of an approximate weight of 90
pounds each were fed individually on peanuts in varying amounts from one
and one-half months to three months to determine the quantity of peanuts
required to make a pig kill soft.
The results of this work show that there was a varying degree of softness,
depending upon the length of time fed. In other words, there was a gradual
softening of the carcasses as they grew heavier and the period of peanut feed-ing
was extended.
(d) Soft-Pork Studies XII.—This study to determine the effect of different
methods of feeding peanuts and hardening feeds on the carcasses of hogs is
similar to the Soft-Pork Experiments X and VII. Six pigs one-half as large
as those used in Experirnent X were fed for three months. All killed hard
or medium hard after receiving as much as 140 pounds of shelled peanuts.
Results are satisfactory. Chemical work on this experiment, however, has
not been completed.
(e) Soft-Pork Experiment XIII.—This experiment is to study the effect of
peanuts on gestation, lactation, growth, and the condition of the carcasses of
pigs grown to a considerable size. Inasmuch as this work is in progress, no
conclusive report can be made showing results.
2. The Effect of Cottonseed Meal and Hulls on Breeding, Gestation,
Lactation, and Growth op Cattle
This project is in cooperation with Mr. Vernon M. "Williams from May 1st
last, and Mr. R. S. Curtis, in charge of dairy cattle and beef cattle investiga-tions
respectively.
The plan of this work and the object in view is to determine definitely the
amounts of cottonseed meal which can be fed under normal conditions to
animals, having in mind the effects on the above mentioned factors or condi-tions.
It is well known that the amounts of cottonseed meal which can be fed
are limited. This has been attributed to toxicity in the meal and the purpose
of this experiment is to work out definitely the causes, and then undertake
to remedy the defects or deficiencies.
This work has been continued for a second gestation and lactation period
on fifteen cows, five of which were heifers. During these two years supple-ments
have been fed with cottonseed meal with the following results
:
It can be stated definitely that during these two years work with supple-mentary
feeds more cottonseed meal has been fed to these cows than pre-viously,
the cottonseed meal averaging approximately 86.2 per cent of the
total grain ration consumed. Some striking results have been obtained in
breeding, lactation, production of live calves, and raising them on their
mothers' milk with nothing but corn husks for roughage.
Commissioner of Agriculture 39
No convulsions or deaths have occurred during the period when supple-ments
were fed. Some of the cows have gradually declined in weight and
gone off feed. The adjustment of the proper amount of supplements and the
proper balancing of these rations with cottonseed meal and hulls is difficult,
and therefore more work is required.
The results of this work are very gratifying and justify pursuing it until
facts are definitely established.
3. Onion Flavor in Milk
This work was conducted in cooperation with Mr. Stanley Combs, formerly
in charge of Dairy Cattle Investigations. This work was for the purpose of
determining the effect of Mrs. Lea's Milk and Butter Purifier, a proprietary
mixture on milk flavored with onions. The results have been published and
are cited at the close of this section of the report.
4. The Nutrition Quality or Butter from Cows Fed on Dry Feeds and on
Summer Pastuee
This project is being pursued. Albino rats are used and fed on highly
purified rations to determine the effect of butter produced from cows made
under the above conditions.
5. Mineral Supplements, Chiefly Calcium, in Relation to the Mixed
Feeds for Farm Animals
This project on mixed feeds and their by-products has been pursued for two
years and the results published, the citation following.
6. The Nutritive Value of Peanuts
(a) This study of the effect on reproduction is being pursued on small
animals. In this case albino rats are used. The peanut meal used is obtained
from the Protein Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
(b) This study is also being pursued on a sow during gestation and lacta-tion.
The sow produced 13 pigs under these conditions of feed. Eleven lived,
nine of which are still living and the mother is being maintained on the same
ration.
Note.—I would like to add that work of the nature that Dr. Halverson is
pursuing is usually involved, and it is, therefore, difficult to give a satisfactory
report, this being especially true in case of those who are looking for conclu-sive
statements.
The field of nutrition is new when considered in the light of actively pur-suing
the many problems confronting Animal Industry workers. It should
be remembered that the economic importance of the above problems are such
that it would be a most profound mistake to give out statements until every
angle of the various problems under way are searched out dihgently. This is
merely offered for explanation to aid the reader in considering these studies.
7. Publications, 1924
(a) "The Calcium Requirements of Animals in Relation to the Calcium
Content of Feeds," by J. O. Halverson and L. M. Nixon, Commercial Feeds,
1923. The Bulletin of North Carolina Department of Agriculture. June. 1924,
page 25.
(b) "Onion Milk Investigation—Mrs. Lea's Milk and Butter Purifier." by
Stanley Combs and J. O. Halverson, The Bulletin, Commercial Feeds, 1923
N. C. Department of Agriculture, June, 1924, page IS.
40 BiENKiAL Report
(c) "Minerals in Animal Nutrition," by J. O. Halverson, Association of
Feed Control Officials, Washington, D. C. October 23, 1924.
(d) "The Calcium Requirements of Farm Animals," by J. O. Halverson,
Flour and Feed, Vol. XXV. November, 1924, No. 6.
(e) "The Lime Content in Feeds in Relation to the Requirements of Farm
Animals," by J. O. Halverson and L. M. Nixon, Flour and Feed, XXV.
November, 1924, No. 6.
(f) "The Chemical Analysis of Okra Seed (Hibiscus Esculentus)," by
B. Naiman and L. M. Nixon, American Chemical Society, Local Section,
Trinity College, Durham, May 3, 1924.
(g) "Soft Pork and its Causes I: Some Results of Soft Pork Investigations
II," by J. O. Halverson and Earl Hostetler, N. C. Academy of Science, May 2,
1924.
(h) "Notes on Gossy-Pol," by F. W. Sherwood, N. C. Academy of Science,
May 2, 1924.
(i) "Vitality of Albino Rats for Experimental Purposes," by F. W. Sher-wood,
N. C. Academy of Science, May 3, 1924.
SWINE INVESTIGATIONS
Eael H. Hostetler, In charge
L. H. McKay, Assistant
This office has been actively engaged in conducting swine research work at
the Swine Research Farm, Raleigh, and at four of the branch experiment
stations, namely : Piedmont, Blackland, Upper Coastal Plains, and Coastal
Plains. A project is outlined for the Tobacco and Mountain Stations, and the
work will probably be started by January 1, 1925.
Considerable new physical equipment has been installed at all of the farms
and we have, therefore, been able to do more and better work than heretofore.
On September 1, 1924, Mr. L. H. McKay was secured to do research and
teaching work with swine.
The following is a report of the projects under way and the results obtained
:
SWINE RESEARCH FARM, RALEIGH
J. T. Keesee, Superintendent and Herdsman
There are four main projects being carried on at this farm with a herd of
purebred Duroc-Jersey swine, as follows
:
1. Value of Pastures for Pigs
(a) Ohject.-—The object of this work was to determine the cost of carrying
pigs from weaning age to 200 pounds with and without pasture.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to use 56 weaned pigs and divide them equally
into six lots of eight pigs each, except lot 6, which had 16 pigs, as follows
:
Lot 1—Self-fed in dry lot.
Lot 2—Three per cent grain with permanent pasture.
Lot 3—Grain self-fed with permanent pasture.
Lot 4—Grain self-fed with temporary pasture.
Lot 5—Three per cent grain with temporary pasture.
Lot 6—Two per cent grain with temporary pasture.
The permanent pasture consisted of orchard grass and clovers and the
temporary pastures of oats followed by soybeans.
(c) Results.—Lots 1, 3, and 4 required approximately the same number of
days to reach 200 pounds in weight. Lots 2. 5, and 6 will not reach the
required weight until after October 1st. Therefore, the results are not only
incomplete, but a report giving conclusions at this time is out of question.
Commissioner of Agkicultuke 41
2. Soft Poek (Cooperation with De. J. O. Halverson)
(a) Olyject.—To determine the effects upon the carcasses of pigs of a given
weight when fed varying amounts of peanuts. .
To determine the effect upon the carcasses of pigs of a given weight when
fed peanuts and rice by difCerent methods.
To determine the effect upon the carcasses of pigs, the dams of which have
been fed peanuts during the gestation period.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to feed S pigs of a given weight on varying amounts
of peanuts, each pig to be fed individually.
To feed sis 75-pound pigs an equal amount of rice and peanuts. Three of
the pigs were fed both kinds of feeds after they had been thoroughly mixed,
and the other three were fed the feeds separately.
To feed one sow a peanut ration during the gestation and suckling periods,
and feed the litter of pigs on rice after they had been weaned.
(c) Results.—It was found that different amounts of peanuts in the ration
affected the carcasses at slaughtering time.
The pigs that were fed peanuts and rice separately "killed harder" than
those that were fed the two feeds together.
The sow on the last phase of the experiment is not due to farrow until
after October 1st. No definite statements can, therefore, be made at this time.
3. Soft Pork (Cooperation with Bureau of Animal Industry)
(a) Oiject.—The object of this work was to determine the effect of feeding
peanuts for eight weeks with a subsequent feeding on corn and brewers rice
for twenty weeks on the carcasses of 65-pound pigs.
(b) Plan.—The plan of this work was to feed twenty-seven pigs on peanuts
for eight weeks, after which three were killed and the other 24 pigs divided
into two equal lots of twelve each. Lot 1 was fed a ration of shelled corn for
twenty weeks, and Lot 2 a ration of brewers' rice for twenty weeks.
Three pigs out of each lot were slaughtered at the end of each four-weeks
period, beginning with the 56th day on corn and brewers' rice.
(c) Results.—The three pigs slaughtered, after being fed on peanuts for 8
weeks, killed soft and oily. The majority of the other pigs produced satis-factory
carcases.
4. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
(a) O'bject.—The object of this work was to determine the cost of raising
oigs to weaning age of eight weeks.
(b) Plan.—All cost records are kept on the sows in the herd, both during
^heir suckling and dry periods.
(c) Results.—This work is still in progress and, due to the many factors
and conditions involved, definite conclusions cannot be drawn at this time.
UPPER COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, ROCKY MOUNT
R. E. CuREiN, Je., Superintendent
L. A. Page, Herdsman
A herd of twelve purebred Hampshire sows and one boar are kept at this
farm, and the experimental work is carried on with the offspring from these
animals. The work is planned so that two carloads of hogs can be shipped
from the farm each year.
Two fundamental lines are being conducted, namely: (a) Cost of raising
pigs to weaning time; (b) determining the value of different grazing crops
for maturing weaned pigs.
42 BlENJSriAL E.EPOKT
1. Gkazing Crops
Corn and soybeans grown together
:
(a) Object.—The object of this work is to determine the amount of pork
produced per acre when the crops are "hogged off."
(b) Plan.-—The plan was to allow 52 weaned pigs to harvest 2.8 acres of
corn and soybeans grown together.
(c) Results.—The results show that one acre of the above crop, with the
addition of 143 pounds of fish meal, produced 838 pounds of pork.
Harvesting soft, immature corn by hogs
:
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the value of young,
immature corn when "hogged oft" by pigs.
(&) Plan.—The plan was to allow 20 eighty-three-pound pigs to harvest 1.63
acres of immature corn. The pigs were turned in on the crop when the corn
was in the dough stage.
(c) Results.-—The results show that 28 days were required for twenty pigs
to harvest 1.63 acres of the above crop. After adding 100 pounds of fish meal
and 21 pounds of mineral mixture one acre of young, immature corn produced
457 pounds of pork.
2. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
The object, plan, and results so far secured from this work are the same as
those at the Swine Research Farm, where similar work is being conducted.
A report was made on the results of work at Raleigh under section 4 pre-ceding.
BLACKLAND BRANCH STATION, WENONA
J. L. Rea, Jr., Superintendent
A. P. Lefevers, Herdsman
A herd of purebred Poland Chinas is- kept on this farm. The herd consists
of one boar and twelve sows. The offspring from this herd is used as a basis
for experimental work. Two carloads of hogs are shipped from the farm each
year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
Three projects are carried on at this farm, namely: (a) Grazing crops;
(b) dry lot feeding; and (c) cost of raising pigs to weaning time.
1. Grazing Crop Experiments with Soybeans
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the amount of pork
produced from a given area of soybeans when supplemented with a 2 per cent
ration of corn.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to graze 45 eighty-pound pigs on three acres of
Virginia soybeans supplemented with shelled corn.
(c) Results.—This work showed that one acre of soybeans, with the addi-tion
of 337 pounds of corn and 21 pounds of mineral, produced 395 pounds of
pork. The yield of soybeans was rather low and the 45 pigs consumed three
acres in 20 days.
2. Dry Lot Feeding
Soybean meal versus fish meal
:
(a) Object.—This work was conducted to determine the comparative value
of soybean meal and fish meal when fed as supplements to corn in a dry lot.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to divide 52 ninety-pound pigs into two equal lots,
feeding shelled corn, fish meal and mineral to Lot 1, and shelled corn, soybean
meal and mineral to the hogs in Lot 2. Each lot of hogs was fed these
different feeds in separate compartments of self-feeders.
(c) Results.-—The results show that the pigs in Lot 2 consumed three times
as much of the protein supplement as the pigs in Lot 1. However, the total
feed consumed per 100 pounds gain was approximately the same in each lot.
Commissioner of Agriculture 43
The above work was conducted during tlie spring of 1924. During the
summer of the same year the work was repeated. The results of the summer
work show that the pigs in Lot 2 fed on soybean meal made less gains and
required 58 pounds more of feed to produce 100 pounds gain than the pigs in
Lot 1, which received fish meal.
3. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
The object, plan, and results of this work are again the same as that con-ducted
on the Swine Research Farm at Raleigh. This work is being repeated
at several of the stations to corroborate conclusions and eliminate error in
so far as possible. In addition, conducting this work at the various farms
will give an opportunity to determine which section of the State is from all
viewpoints the best adapted to producing high-class hogs that will pass the
market requirements. This determination is especially needed in this State
because of the soft producing feeds which are factors in pork production.
PIEDMONT BRANCH STATION, STATESVILLE
F. T. Meacham, Superintendent
G. A. Bekey, Herdsman
A herd consisting of eight purebred Poland China sows and one purebred
Poland China boar is maintained on this farm. The offspring from these
animals are used for experimental work and for herd development.
The two principal projects with swine at this farm are: (a) Grazing crop
studies, and (b) cost of raising pigs to weaning time.
1. Grazing Experiments with Red Clover
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the value of red
clover for pigs when supplemented with corn and fish meal fed from a self-feeder.
(b) Plan.—Twenty-five spring-farrowed pigs were used, weighing about 35
pounds each. They were divided into two equal lots, one lot receiving shelled
corn, shorts, fish meal, and mineral in separate compartments of a self-feeder
in a dry lot. The pigs in Lot 2 were fed the same feeds in the same manner
and in addition they were grazed on a red clover pasture instead of being
kept in a dry lot.
(c) Results.—The results show that the pigs in Lot 2 required 319 pounds
of grain in addition to the clover pasture to make 100 pounds of gain.
2. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
This is again a repetition of a similar piece of work being conducted on the
Swine Research Farm at Raleigh. Much valuable data is being assembled on
this problem which will be published after definite conclusions are drawn.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, WILLARD
Charles Dearing. Superintendent
One swine project is being conducted at this farm and the same kind of
work will be inaugurated at the Tobacco and Mountain Branch Stations in
the near future.
The following is the outline of the work under way
:
1. The Family Sow
(a) Ohjeet.—The object of this work is to determine the cost of maintaining
two purebred sows and one purebred boar under general farm conditions
where all possible feed wastes are utilized.
44 BiENJsriAL Repokt
(b) Plan.—The plan of this work is to maintain a community herd boar
and furnish service at a nominal charge. This will be in addition to the use
made of the boar and the project outlined. The pigs produced each year will
be used for harvesting waste field products. When they are finished they will
be used to furnish the home meat supply. Those that are not needed for home
consumption will be sold either as breeding animals or for pork, depending on
their adaptability for these purposes.
(c) Results.—No results as yet have been obtained on this project, as the
work was only started late in the year.
Articles Published on Swine Production
(a) The Home Supply of Pork.
(b) Give the Pigs a Fair Start.
(c) Pastures for Swine.
(d) Cotton (to Feed) Work Animals.
(e) Cottonseed Meal for Work Animals.
(f) Report of Cooperative Soft Pork Work. .
(g) Curing Pork at Home.
(h) Soybean Meal versus Fish Meal for Fattening Pigs.
(i) Hard or Soft Pork.
(j) Report of Corn and Soybeans Hogged Off.
Meetings Attended
During the year several important meetings were attended, among these
being the Soft Pork Conference held in April at Knoxville, Tenn. Representa-tives
from twelve states were at this meeting. Mr. Hostetler was on several
important committees.
Letters Written
During the year 516 letters were written on subjects pertaining to swine
production, judging, feeding, and management.
DAIRY CATTLE INVESTIGATIONS
Vernon M. Williams, In Charge
The experimental work conducted by this oflice will be reported on a basis
of the following outline covering the major projects which are being con-ducted
:
1. General Statement.
2. Central Experiment Station.
a. Cottonseed Meal Investigations.
(1) Effect of heavy cottonseed meal feeding on reproduction and
lactation of the dairy cow.
(2) Corn silage as a protective factor in heavy cottonseed meal
feeding to dairy cattle.
(3) Corn silage and cracked corn as protective factor in heavy
cottonseed meal feeding to dairy cattle.
(4) Effect of heavy cottonseed meal feeding on the growth and
health of calves receiving milk from cows so fed.
b. Corn Plant Feeding Investigations.
(1) Effect of feeding ration solely from the corn plant on the
reproduction and lactation of the dairy cow.
(2) Effect of feeding rations solely from the corn plant on the
growth and health of calves receiving milk from cows so fed.
3. Coastal Plains Branch Experiment Station.
4. Mountain Branch Experiment Station.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 45
General Statement
The work of the Office of Dairy Investigations is actively carried on at
three stations: The Central Experiment Station at Raleigh, the Coastal
Plains Branch Experiment Station at Willard, and the Mountain Branch
Experiment Station at Swannanoa.
The work at the Central Experiment Station is carried on in cooperation
with the Office of Animal Nutrition and the Office of Beef Cattle Investigations.
On January 1, 1924, the resignation of Mr. Stanley Combs, formerly in
charge of this office, went into effect and the work was under the supervision
of cooperating offices until May 1, 1924, when Mr. Vernon M. Williams took
charge.
No major changes have been made in the physical equipment at the three
stations.
The office has had the full cooperation of the other offices of the Animal
Industry Division in obtaining materials and data.
CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION
A. Cottonseed Meal Feeding Investigations
(1) Effect of Heavy Cottonseed, Meal Feeding on Reproduction and Lactation
of Dairy Cow.
For years cottonseed meal has generally been considered harmful when fed
in large amounts to dairy cattle. Much has been said in regard to the poison-ous
qualities of this feed. Some of the foremost feed authorities in the world
have recommended its use only as a rich protein supplement in amounts not
exceeding two or three pounds daily.
The earlier work at this and other stations where unextracted cottonseed,
cottonseed hulls and cottonseed meal were fed as the principal part of ration
the cows so fed became blind, developed convulsions, aborted, gave birth to
weak, blind calves with soft bones, and other general anatomical and physio-logical
weaknesses.
Cottonseed meal is the cheapest rich protein dairy feed used generally
throughout the South and a great part of the North and West. It is also one
of the cheapest sources of energj^ food for cattle. Consequently the manu-facturers
of this meal and the men who feed it have been trying for some
time to find a way to use it safely.
This station then set about to find out what was wrong with cottonseed
meal, and how, if possible, to right the wrong. For some time it was thought,
because of the isolation from the lohole cottonseed kernel of a poisonous sub-stance
called gossypol, that the trouble in heavy cottonseed meal feeding was
due to this poisonous substance. It was later suggested that copperas feeding
would offset the poison. But this suggestion did not bring success. The
"poison" or "toxic" theory has been accepted rather widely over the country.
More recent work in animal nutrition has shown that certain dietary factors
which, although occurring in exceedingly small quantities in many natural
foods, play a most vitally necessary part in animal life. In view of this, the
station has investigated cottonseed more thoroughly with regard to these
dietary factors and certain mineral substances.
Certain mineral salts were added to the rations of cows whose roughage
was cottonseed hulls and grain was entirely cottonseed meal. There was
some improvement in the cows, but the cows continued to get in bad shape,
calves were born prematurely and. even though some gestation periods were
normal, the calves were weak, and in most cases unable to live long after
birth.
46 Biennial Report
Beginning in 1923, certain other supplements were added in small quantities,
and the result has been astonishing. Cows receiving cottonseed hulls for
roughage, and a grain ration from 80 to 90 per cent cottonseed meal have
produced normal calves, the calves have grown normally to weaning age on
their dam's milk, and the calves have produced approximately the average
for dairy cows in this State. This work is not yet complete, and will need to
be slightly modified and continued before conclusions can be reached. It will
be necessary to continue and repeat some of the work under farm conditions
at the branch stations before definite recommendations can be made.
(2) Corn Silage as a Protective Factor in Heavy Cottonseed Meal Feeding to
Dairy Cattle.
Cottonseed meal supplemented with corn silage has not proved to be a
satisfactory ration. The addition of certain minerals has not proved sufiicient.
The addition of certain minerals and small amounts of other substances
containing proteins of higher quality and rich in the food accessories has made
silage and cottonseed meal apparently sufficient for reproduction and lactation
not far below average.
(3) Corn Silage and Cracked Com as Protective Factors in Heavy Cottonseed
Meal Feeding.
Where cottonseed meal and hulls have been supplemented liberally with
corn silage and cracked corn the cows receiving this ration have not been
able to give birth to normal calves and milk normally. But with the addition
of small quantities of certain other substances to the rations, these cows have
given birth to normal calves and have milked well above the State average.
(4) Effect of Heavy Cottonseed Meal Feeding on the Growth and Health of
Calves Receiving Milk from Coios so Fed.
In all the three experiments described above calves were fed on the milk
of their dams and where calves died they were replaced with week-old calves
purchased from nearby dairymen.
Up until the past year calves fed milk from the cows on the heavy cottonseed
meal rations failed to make the normal growth and to resist disease as did
the calves fed on milk produced by cows fed normal rations. The success in
producing living calves that made normal growth is ascribed to the effects of
the supplements added to the rations of the cows.
B. Corn Plant Feeding Investigations
(1) Effect of Feeding Ration Solely from the Corn Plant on the Reproduction
and Lactation of the Dairy Cow.
It is not uncommon on some farms to feed cows throughout the winter season
on corn fodder and some corn grain. This feeding system was used on four
mature cows. The cows so fed developed an unthrifty appearance, but would
often come through the season in fair flesh. The calves, however, were some-times
born prematurely, weak, and blind. By supplementing rations of corn
stover, corn silage, and crushed corn with steamed bone meal and certain
highly potent sources of vitamines, fully developed calves of normal weight
were obtained. And these cows produced a fair flow of milk. The cows whose
rations were raised in protein by adding corn gluten meal produced consid-erably
more than the average for the State. These results are in accord
with the findings of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, and would
indicate that dairy cows whose rations are largely made up of products of the
corn plant should be fed some mineral compound containing calcium, such as
steamed bone meal or calcium carbonate, at the rate of 2 to 3 pounds per
hundred pounds of grain.
Commissioner of Agriculture 4T
(2) Effect of Feeding Rations Solely from Corn Plant, as Shoivn by the Growth
and Health of Calves Dropped dy Receiving Milk from Cows so Fed.
Until the rations of the cows described above were supplemented, the calves
were subnormal and of low vitality. Following the addition of these supple-ments,
normal calves were obtained, which proceeded with normal growth.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATION
The herd development work has been continued at this station. It was
interfered with somewhat by the transfer of part of the herd to the Mountain
Branch Station, but the heifers now in the herd will soon bring the cow herd
up to the desired number of approximately thirty-five.
There are now eight bull calves, sixteen heifers, and twenty-two cows in
milk. Of these twenty-two, five are heifers which freshened during the year.
The other seventeen that were in the milking herd produced an average of
7.025.6 pounds of milk and 36.5.0.5 pounds of butter fat.
Three daughters of Eminent 19th completed Register of Merit records as
follows
:
Name Number Age at Beginning Butter Fat
Pender Eminent Lass D 369.039 7 yrs., 11 mos. 612.21
Pender Eminent Lass Q 407,986 4 yrs., 6 mos. 551.87
Pender's Delia's Girl 428,960 4 yrs., 8 mos. 534.82
Lass G's Ola, No. 491463. a granddaughter of Eminent 19th, out of Pender
Eminent Lass G and by Rumina's King, completed a very good record of
565.87 pounds of butter fat. starting at 2 years, ten months, which wins an
American Jersey Cattle Club Silver Medal for her and makes her State Class
CJiampion over all breeds.
These granddaughters of Eminent 19th by Rumina King are in turn being
bred to the Distinguished Eminent. This is a line bred bull out of a Gold
Medal cow, who was in turn sired by a Gold Medal sire and out of a cow
with a good Register of Merit record. He was sired by Sensational Fern
and out of Eminent's Distinction, a Gold Medal cow. From a breeding stand-point,
then, the blood of this bull should make a splendid cross on the grand-daughters
of Eminent 19th. When the heifers by the Distinguished Eminent
shall have reached a mature age, thx-ee full mature generations will be com-pleted
in the Herd Development Project. The records of these cows will
show clearly the extent to which a herd can be developed in a few years by the
use of bulls whose ancestry is well filled with high production records.
MOUNTAIN BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATION
The dairy bam at this station has been improved and the herd has become
established so that research may now be carried on at this station.
The cows at this station were taken from the herd at the Coastal Plains
Station and apparently are very well adapted to the conditions at their new
home.
There are in this herd at present two bulls, eleven heifers and eleven cows.
These eleven cows produced an average of 7,524.3 pounds of milk and 360.78
pounds of butter fat during the past year, and only six of the eleven are
mature animals. The average for the State is about 3,000 pounds milk and
135 pounds of butter fat.
All the cows in the herd are daughters or granddaughters of Eminent 19th,
and are being continued in the breeding studies started at the Coastal Plains
48 Biennial Report
Station. One of them, Eminent's Queen Anne, No. 491462, now on official test
as a junior four-year-old, averaged 69.36 pounds of butter fat during her first
five months on test.
Meetings Attended
During the year several important meetings were attended, among these
being the American Dairy Science Association held at Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
October 6th and 7th. Representatives from the entire United States and
Canada attended this meeting.
Lettees Written
During the year approximately 1.200 letters were written on subjects per-taining
to dairy cattle investigations, feeding, and management.
BEEF CATTIvE AND SHEEP INATESTIGATIONS
CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION, RALEIGH
R. S. Curtis, In Charge
D. W. Jones, Herdsman
1. Effect of Cottonseed Meal Upon Growth and Reproduction of Cows
AND Heifers
Object.—To determine the various residual effects from using excessive
quantities of cottonseed meal when fed to cows and heifers under controlled
conditions. Some of the probable results are abortion, animals with soft
bones, partial and total blindness, and general oedemic conditions.
Results.—Results show that various supplements, such as calcium carbon-ate,
butter fat, cod liver oil, yeast, mineral steam bone meal and wheat
embryo have corrective effects. This is a long-time experiment, however, and
conclusive evidence on the many angles of this problem are not now available.
Note.—This work is cooperative with Mr. Vernon M. Williams and Dr. J. O.
Halverson, in charge of Dairy Research and Animal Nutrition, respectively.
2. Stomach Worms in Sheep
Object.—To determine the effect of grazing crops, high feeding, and specific
antidotes for preventing and ridding sheep of stomach worms.
Results.—Results up to date show that all three of the above have correc-tive
effects, but as to the comparative value of each it is not justifiable in
making a statement just at this time.
PIEDMONT BRANCH STATION, STATESVILLE
F. T. Meacham, Superintendent
Grady A. Berry, Herdsman
1. Cost of Raising Lambs to Marketable Age
Object.—To determine the cost of raising high-class market lambs to mar-ketable
age and condition, using a purebred Hampshire ram and high-grade
ewes of Shropshire and Merino blood.
Results.—The results show conclusively that good market lambs can be
produced under Piedmont North Carolina conditions with pastures, silage, and
cracked com supplemented with cottonseed meal and wheat bran. All of the
lambs produced have been sold in Raleigh at good prices, ranging from 15 to
20 cents per pound, depending on the year and season sold.
Commissioner of Agkicultuke 49
BLAOKLAND STATION, WENONA
J. L. Rea, Jr., Superintendent
A. P. Lefeveks, Herdsman
1. Pkodtjction of Beef Cattle
Object.—To determine the success with which high-grade beef cattle can
be produced under Blackland conditions by using purebred sire and common
or native females, native pastures to be grown for the purpose and wintering
feeds to be supplied from the farm with the possible exception of cottonseed
meal.
Results.—Tentative plans are just under way to inaugurate this work, and
as soon as the cattle tick is eradicated in the county, which will be in
December, this work will be started.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, WILLARD
Charles^ Bearing, Superintendent
Thomas H. Cameron, Herdsman
1. Permanent Pasture Studies
(In cooperation with Mr. W. F. Pate, Agronomy Division)
Object.—To determine the grasses which will grow best under Coastal
Plains ' conditions, and to determine their carrying capacity with beef steers,
later applications to be made with dairy cattle.
Results.—Experiment outlined only and plans being made for its execution.
Note.—This same work will be duplicated at the Blackland Station at
Wenona.
Meetings Attended
The most important meeting attended during the year was the Soft Pork
Conference held at Knosville, Tenn., during April. Twelve states were repre-sented
at this meeting. The writer is also chairman of the Council of Live-stock
Research for the Southern States. A report of the work conducted by
this council was reported at the. meeting of Southern Agricultural Workers
held at Montgomery, Ala.
Numerous other meetings were attended throughout the State during the
year. These pertained either to research or extension work.
ANIMAIi INDUSTRY DIVISION
Extension Projects
OFFICE OF SWINE EXTENSION
W. W. Shay, In Charge
W. V. Hays, Assistant
1. Swine Feeding Demonstrations
Owing to the fact that the present custom of feeding and marketing hogs as
practiced by the farmers of North Carolina is not the most profitable possible,
and that proof of the superiority of the methods advocated by the Office of
Swine Extension is necessary to insure their adoption, the feeding demonstra-tion
has been pushed as our major project.
Proof that it does convince is frequently found in the remarks of cooperating
farmers. One at Red Springs, while delivering his hogs for a cooperative
car-lot shipment, said : "It seems strange that I should have fed hogs all my
life and never learned how to do it properly until I was sixty-five years old."
4
50 Biennial Report
Another at Bayboro, in Pamlico County, had nine hogs in a cooperative sliip-ment.
He evidently qiaestioned the wisdom of parting with his property
before receiving his money, but being something of a philosopher, as the car
disappeared up the line, he said : "Well, there they go, and if I never see
a dollar for them, what I have learned about feeding hogs is worth as much
to me as they are." Needless to add that his check came promptly and was
satisfactory.
During the fiscal year just ended, ninety-five demonstrations have been
started in twenty-one counties in cooperation with sixteen agents and four
instructors of vocational schools. In these demonstrations 1,282 hogs were
weighed,

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BIENNIAL REPORT
of the
North Carolina Department
of Agriculture
From December 1, 1922
To November 30, 1924
MEMBERS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
1. W. A. Graham, Commissioner, ex officio Chairman
2. F. P. Latham, First District 4. W. B. McLelland, Eighth District
3. W. A. Brown, Third District 5. Clarence Poe, Fourth District
6. K. W. Barnes, Secretary and Purchasing Agent
MEMBERS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
1. Edith K. Vanderbilt, Tenth District
2. R. W. Scott, Fifth District
3. J. Vance McGougan, Sixth District
4. J. J. Harris, Second District
5. C. C. Wright, Seventh District.
6. O. Max Gardner, Ninth District
BIENNIAL REPORT
of the
North Carolina Department
of Agriculture
From December 1, 1922
To November 30, 1924
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
December 12, 1924.
To His Excellency, Cameeon Morrison,
Governor of North Carolina.
Sir:—In compliance witli section 3944 of the Revisal o£ 1905, I
submit the following report of the operations of the Department of
Agriculture for the years 1922-24, to be transmitted to the Legislature
with such reference as you may deem necessary for the public welfare.
Respectfully submitted,
Gomm/ission&r of Agriculture.
OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
W. A. Graham, Commissioner, ex officio Chairman, Raleigh
F. P. Latham, Belhaven First District
J. J. Harris, Macon Second District
W. A. Brown, Rocky Point Third District
Clarence Poe, Raleigh Fourth District
R. W. Scott. Haw River Fifth District
J. Vance McGougan, Fayetteville Sixth District
C. C. Wright, Hunting Creek Seventh District
W. B. McClelland, Stony Point Eighth District
O. Max Gardner, Shelby Ninth District
Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt. Biltmore Tenth District
OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
Executive Officers
W. A. Graham .Commissioner
K. W. Barnes Secretary and Purchasing Agent
Mrs. Carl Hill Bookkeeper
Miss Mary Knight Stenographer
Experiment Station and Extension Service
B. W. Kilgore Director
F. E. Miller Assistant Director Branch Experiment Stations
Analytical Division
( Vacancy ) State Agricultural Chemist
W. G. Haywood Fertilizer Chernst
E. S. Dewar Assistant Chemist
Z. B. Bradford Assistant Chemist
C. L. Williams , Assistant Chemist
E. F. Hord Assistant Chemist
D. M. Jeffress Assistant Chemist
J. O. Halverson Feed Chemist
L. M. Nixon Assistant Chemist
H. A. Dickert Assistant Chemist
F. W. Sherwood Assistant Chemist
Miss M. S. Birdsong Secretary
Museum
H. H. Brimley Curator
Harry T. Davis Assistant
Veterinary Division
William Moore Veterinarian
C. P. Caldwell Assistant
L. J. Faulhaber Assistant
Miss Hattie Bell „ Stenographer
4 Officers and Employees
Animal iNDtrsTBY Division
R. S. Curtis Acting Chief
J. A. Arey In Cliarge, Dairy Extension
A. C. KiMEEY Assistant Dairy Specialist
W. L. Clevengek Assistant Dairy Specialist and Instruction
F. R. Faenham Assistant Dairy Specialist, Production Work
H. L. Wilson Assistant Dairy Specialist, Swiss Cheese Work
W. A. Graham Assistant Dairy Specialist, Cheddar Cheese Work
W. W. Shay In Charge, Swine Extcnf^ipn
W. V. Hays Assistant Swine Specialist
G. P. William Sheep Specialist
Earl H. HosTETLER....In Charge, Office of Swine Investigations and Instruction
L. H. McKay Assistant, Office of Swine Investigations and Instruction
Vernon M. Williams In Charge, Office of Dairy Investigations
Allen G. Oliver In charge, Office of Poultry Extension
E. G. Wardin Assistant, Office of Poultry Extension
Miss Nellie Fort Secretary, Animal Industry Division
Miss Edna Walborn Stenographer
Miss Lillian Bender Stenographer
Division of Agronomy
Dr. R. Y. Winters Plant Breeding Agronomist
W. F. Pate In Charge, Soil Fertility Investigations
L. G. Willis „ _ Soil Chemist
E. C. Blair Extension Agronomist (Soil and Crops)
P. H. KiME Assistant Plant Breeder
G. M. Garren Grain Specialist
H. B. Mann Assistant in Soil Fertility
S. K. Jackson Assistant in Soil Fertility
S. F. Davidson Assistant in Soil Survey
W. A. Davis Assistant in Soil Survey
H. A. McGee (Tobacco) Extension Agronomist
Division of Entomology
Franklin Sherman Chief in Entomology
R. W. Leiby Assistant Entomologist, Investigations
C. S. Brimley Assistant, Investigations
T. B. Mitchell Assistant, Inspections and Field Work
J. C. Crawford Assistant, Investigations
J. A. Harris Assistant, Investigations
W. B. Mabee , Assistant, Extension
C. L. Sams Beekeeping Extension
Miss Jessie Almer Marion Clerk
Division of Horticulture
C. D. Matthews Chief
Robert Schmidt Vegetable Culture
W. A. Radspinner „ Pomology
C. F. Williams , „ Research
G. O. Randall Extension Work
H. R. Niswonger Extension Work
Mrs. O. H. Bishop Stenographer
Officers and Employees 5
Food and Oil Division
W. M. Allen State Food and Oil Chemist and Chief of Division
L. B. Rhodes Assistant Food and Gasoline Chemist
W. A. Queen Assistant Food and Linseed Oil Chemist
E. W. Constable Assistant Gasoline Chemist
M. A. Townsend Clerk and Assistant Chemist
C. R. Warlick Food and Sanitary Inspector
F. T. Ward Oil and Gasoline Clerk
S. G. Allen - General Clerk
Sallie F. Palmer Clerk and Stenographer
Division of Botany
J. L. Burgess , Botanist
Miss Susie Allen Seed Analyst
Miss Gussie Finch Assistant Seed Analyst
Miss Grace Stone Assistant Seed Analyst
Miss Kate Ballard Assistant Seed Analyst
Markets and Rural Organizations
George R. Ross Chief
R. B. Etheridge Specialist in Farm Crops
Albert E. Mercker Specialist in Fruits and Vegetables
G. R. Blount Specialist in Marketing Fruits and Vegetables
J. I. Johnson Cotton Grading
J. P. Brown Warehouse Inspection and Oi^ration
A. V. Anderson Credit Unions
V. W. Lewis Livestock Marketing Specialist
H. R. PowLEDGE Chief Clerk
W. L. Nelson Telegraph Operator
Miss Mabel Haynes Stenographer
Mrs. J. N. Mason Stenographer
Miss Elizabeth Moore Stenographer
Division of Agricultural Economics
Frank Parker Agricultural Statistician
William H. Rhodes, Jr Assistant Statistician
E. B. Morrow Assistant Statistician
Mrs. Katherine W. Haig Record Clerk
Mrs. Ella R. Simpson Filing Clerk
Mrs. Polk Denmark Mailing Clerk
Mrs. Rebecca W. Horton Census Clerk
Publications
F. H. Jeter Agricultural Editor
A. O. Alford Assistant Editor
Mrs. J. S. Whiteneb _ ^ Stenographer
Miss Thelma Owens Clerk
6 Officers and Employees
Farm Engineering
E. R. Rainey Farm Building and Equipment
Miss Louise B. Wright Stenographer
Farm Forestry
H. M. CURRAN Farm Forestry Specialist
Test Farms
R. E. Ourrin, Jr Superintendent Edgecombe Test Farm, Rocky Mount, N. C.
F. T. Meacham Superintendent Iredell Test Farm, Statesville, N. C.
S. C. Clapp Superintendent Buncombe Test Farm, Swannanoa, N. 0.
Charles Dearing Superintendent Pender Test Farm, Willard, N. C
E. C. Moss Superintendent Granville Test Farm, Oxford, N. C.
J. L. Rea, Jr Superintendent Washington Farm, Wenona, N. O.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER
Upon the death of my beloved father, who served the State as Com-missioner
of Agriculture continuously from September, 1908, till Decem-ber,
1923, you saw fit to place the responsibilities of the office in my
hands.
Stimulated by a desire to emulate the achievements of my father,
whose work, now passed into history, was made possible by the wise
counsel of his board and loyal cooperation of his stafL I decided to
accept the challenge of service and trust to you for support in carrying
forward the great work of the Department not only along present lines
but into new and relatively unexplored fields of activity.
Since we last met, Hon. A.. Cannon, for over twenty years a member
of the board, has been taken from us. He was devoted to the agricultural
interests of the State; efficient and loyal, and his wise counsel will be
sadly missed. Mrs. Edith K. Vanderbilt of Buncombe County was ap-pointed
to fill this vacancy.
While the State is justly proud of the record of progress made by our
board and its former Commissioner, there are yet vast territories to
conquer before we shall reach our goal of financial independence for
agriculture in Worth Carolina.
I use the term "financial independence" advisedly. Our. country
people, as a rule, have ample food supplies, but have little money. They
have learned to produce bountifully, but since for years much of this
bounty, beyond household necessities, has been forced to decay at the
point of production, our farmers have found it wise to curtail produc-tion
in certain lines, in sheer self-defense, with the result that our
large consuming centers have been compelled to draw their food sup-plies
largely from outside sources, thus depriving I^orth Carolina of mil-lions
of dollars that rightfully belong in the pockets of North Carolina
farmers.
Practicax, Marketixg the Paramount JSTeed at this Time
By a survey of the agricultural conditions in this State, I am driven
to the conclusion that we are making a one-sided economic development.
We are forcing theoretical instruction too far ahead of practical achieve-ment.
To illustrate, we have been teaching our farmers to build modern
potato houses without creating a set of market conditions to prevent the
potatoes from rotting from too long a storage period. We have shown
the farmer the advantages of purebred stock and enabled him to pro-duce
the best of farm animals only to glut the local market and smother
his ambitions in the excess of his own productions. You, yourself, will
recall similar examples of this unbalanced economic condition in our
agriculture.
8 BiENisriAi. Report
Wider Markets Imperative
Our farmers have, as a body, always been out of toucb with our
large consuming centers; but, witb our superb transportation system
about complete, and with, a vigorous campaign under way to organize
tbe farmers into industrial groups for marketing purposes, we should
soon begin to make inroads upon the leading markets of the country.
We have no criticism of the theoretical teaching that has gone before,
but we insist that the time has now arrived to reduce our theories to
practice; and that it is a cruel and short-sighted policy that fosters in-creased
production without providing for a parallel increase in the re-turns
from this production.
Through our Market Division we have determined to concentrate the
efforts and energies of this Department on the one object of finding the
best markets for the products of the farm. To this end we have secured,
as Chief of this Division, the services of George R. Ross, of Moore
County. Mr. Ross is a native of ISTorth Carolina; a graduate of the
A. and E. College; a young man full of energy and enterprise, and well
equipped for the duties he has been engaged to perform.
While the details of the Market Division will be arranged by Mr,
Ross and the different lines of activity largely determined by him and
his staff, I might outline to you one or two features of the work to show
you the proposed practicability of the efforts of this division. The far-mers
close to the larger cities generally have a fair local market, but
those in the back country are at a distinct disadvantage even with our
system of good roads. It is here that our best work in this line can be
done. In these remote sections our market man will stimulate the pro-duction
of surplus hogs, or cattle, or poultry, or potatoes far beyond
what can be disposed of in the immediate section. Ten farmers, say,
in one of these communities will raise and fatten six more hogs each
than they have been able, heretofore, to market. Sixty hogs will make
a carload. Our market specialist will be in touch with the nearest
packing house. The hogs will be ready for delivery on demand after
ISTovember first, we will say. When the market is ready all of these hogs
will be delivered at one point and shipped and the net proceeds pro-rated
among the farmers by our .market specialist.
We will not be able to guarantee any definite price for any length of
time, but we will be able to get the best price prevailing at the time of
shipment. There is a packing house in Richmond and one in Atlanta
and one is being built in Asheville.
These carload shipments could be repeated any number of times and
with a dozen different farm products, and hundreds of thousands of dol-lars
distributed throughout sections of the State where it is not now
thought possible to place a dollar. Through our Market Division, we ex-pect,
within the next year or two, to be able to say to the farmers, "you
grow the stuff and we will sell it for you."
COMMISSIONEK OF AgRICULTUKE
[Farm Tokestky
There is anotlier work of deep interest to our agriculture, and that ia
farm forestry.
Section 4686, Vol. 2. of the Consolidated Statutes of 1919 reads as
follows : ''The Department of Agriculture shall investigate and report
upon the condition of the timber in jSTorth Carolina and recommend
such legislation as will promote the growth thereof and preserve the
same."
In order to bring out, in greater relief, the vital importance of main-taining
and preserving our timber supply, I wish to call your attention
to some of the relationships existing between the farmer's wood lot
and our leading industrial enterprises. And first I wish to call your
attention to the use of the woods in the manufacture of
:
Vehicles and Machinery
We have at various important centers of the State, as at "Wilson,
Durham, and Hickory important buggy and wagon manufacturing in-dustries.
These call for the best young growth of hickory for axles and
shafts, and first-class hickory and white oak for axles, double and single
trees, etc.
For use in the manufacture of vehicles and various farm machinery,
hickory and oak are invaluable products of the farm.
Paper Industry
Some days ago I noted with pleasure that the paper interests were
seriously considering the location of a number of pulp mills in this State
to use up the usual fifty per cent of the tree that goes to waste in getting
•out logs for the sawmills.
We have in ISTorth Carolina woods that can be made into every grade
of paper from the coarsest wrapping paper to the most delicate tinted
note paper, and at Canton, this State, there is now a very large pulp
plant that makes from the different woods of the mountains the best
news-print to be found in the fifteen and one-half billion yearly circula-tion
of America's newspapers and periodicals. The white pine, the
chestnut, and various oaks are among the timbers thus used in the
daily spread of information among the American people, and Western
North Carolina is peculiarly adapted to the growth of these woods.
Leather Industry
We have not yet found anything to take the place of tannic acid in
the manufacture of leather. While metallic salts and certain oils are
used to a limited extent in the preparation of hides, the great leather in-dustry
of the United States is mainly dependent upon tannic acid ex-tracted
from the oak, chestnut, and hemlock barks as found in Western
10 Biennial Report
iSTorth Carolina, tlie gathering of whicli has, for years, constituted a
more or less remunerative springtime industry for the farmers of this
section of the State.
The Cotton Mills
So far as I am informed, every shuttle that plies in every loom in
every one of our thousands of cotton mills is made of either persimmon
wood or dogwood, and, practically, every farmer in the Piedmont and
Mountain sections of North Carolina has a few of these trees on his
farm. These woods are of vast importance to the cotton industry of
this State and the country at large, and, being woods of exceedingly slow
growth should be scrupulously protected and allowed to occupy all lands
that do not lend themselves easily to cultivation.
Hydko-Electric Power
There is a close relationship between farm forestry and the year-round
maintenance of high voltage in our hydro-electric power plants.
While our larger streams have their rise on the wooded side of our
mountains, where a gradual run-off is maintained throughout most of
the year, they receive most of their supply of water from small streams
that are fed from springs and intermittent showers throughout the
partially cleared lands of the Piedmont section. Most of the water
impounded behind the great dams at Badin on the Yadkin and behind
those of the Southern Power Company on both the Yadkin and
Catawba rivers, is gathered by these streams after they have left Wilkes-boro
and Old Port.
It is important, therefore, as an indirect aid to the industrial power
development of the State, that our farmers in the Piedmont section
early learn the importance of properly conserving their forest areas
along the small streams and thus aid in the year-round, continuous
water supply to the big industrial power plants that should, in turn,
aid in producing a market for their products.
Railroad Ties
Of course the intimate relationship between railroad transportation
and farm forestry is apparent to every one who has ever observed at
the little way-side stations and sidings the endless piles of ties for build-ing
and repairing the roads. The preservation, then, of our young oak
growths, on lands otherwise useless, is of great importance throughout
Piedmont ISTorth Carolina.
The Furniture Industry
The second city in the United States in furniture production is High
Point. Just what percentage of the lumber used in the production of
this furniture is produced in ISTorth Carolina I do not know, but I am
Commissioner of Agriculture 11
sure that the maple, the walnut, the poplar, the ash, the oak, the cedar,
the pine, and much o£ the cherry used by these mills should be grown
and cut from the waste acres on the farms of this State. And High
Point is but one town in which first-class furniture is made. You can
name a dozen other towns, such as Mebane, Thomasville, Worth Wilkes-boro
and Statesville, where the wood-working industry is of first-class
importance.
• Lumbering
The fame of our once magnificent forests along the coast has now
passed into history, and we have only the stumps to remind us that
lumbering and the gathering of naval stores once formed the principal
industry of nearly half the area of the State.
But we must still have lumber ; and the most practical way I can see
to get it in sufficient and dependable quantity is for each farmer to grow
all he can on his waste acres surrounding his fields.
I am told it takes but thirty years to grow a pine tree from the seed
to a saw log a foot and a half thick. If then, we could grow the ideal
acre of 200 trees and have them average 400 feet of lumber to the tree,
and this lumber should be worth $30 the lowest price it sells for today,
the acre would yield the farmer $2,400 or an average of $80 an acre for
each of the thirty years. With what other crop can he do so well ?
Fuel
I have said nothing of the importance of farm forestry to the fuel
supply of both the farm and the city. Every one knows of its vital con-nection
with the fuel supply.
Telephone Poles
In 1921 there were 190 telephone companies in ISTorth Carolina operat-ing
337 exchanges connecting 39,731 business and 63,706 residence
phones with 25,507 miles of wire. With fifty telephone posts to the
mile, and this is a low average, this mileage requires 1,275,350 posts to
support the lines. The only durable woods we have for telephone posts
are black locust, red cedar and juniper. As time goes on the wisdom
of conserving these three woods for fence and telephone posts will
become increasingly apparent.
In the forests and parks of Portugal, there is everywhere displayed a
sign which makes a tree speak thus to the wayfarer and to humanity
:
"Ye who pass by and would raise your hand against me. hearlven ere you
harm me.
"I am ttie heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, the friendly shade
screening you from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing draughts
quenching your thirst as you journey on.
"I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed
on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
12 Biennial Report
"I am the handle of your hoe, the door of j'our homestead, the wood of your
cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
"I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
"Ye who pass me by. listen to my prayer : Harm me not."
In my address before tlie State Forestry Association a year ago at
"Washington, N. C, I called attention to the following facts
:
I find by an examination of the records that in 1923 ISTorth Carolina
contained 334,448 acres in JNTational forests, 300 acres in State forests,
1,225 acres in State Parks, and 2,200 acres belonging to State Institu-tions,
half of which was, perhaps, in forest growths.
The report of the last census shows that in 1912-14-15 ISTorth Caro-lina
ranked fourth as a timber producing state, but that in 1920 it
ranked ninth in this respect.
There is little doubt that much more extensive and profitable forest
areas can be created and maintained in I^orth Carolina than we find
here today. The census of 1920 shows that we had in ISTorth Carolina
at that time 8,240,795 acres of improved farm lands and 11,805,619
acres of unimproved farm lands. Of course, all of these unimproved
acres of farm lands were not set to timber, but, as a rule, we all know
that throughout ISTorth Carolina abandoned lands are pretty soon re-seeded
and set to young forest growths; and we could hardly be in-correct
if we should state that at least one-half of these unimproved acres
are partly set to young forest growths at present. Many of these unim-proved
acres represent lands that were cleared in the early history of
the State, then "worn out" and abandoned.
In recent years, however, we have learned that it is much easier and
cheaper, by the use of modern methods, to revive these abandoned tracts
and bring them into a high state of cultivation than to clear virgin
territory, take out the stumps, subdue its wild nature, and reduce it to
easily tillable land. We find, therefore, a wide-spread tendency on the
part of our farmers to allow old lands that have become fairly well set
to forest growths to remain so occupied, and turn their attention to the
reclaiming of lands that were once thought too poor to plow.
Of course there is much land surface in the State that is too steep
and too rocky to be disturbed by the plow and these areas must of neces-sity
remain in timber. It appears, therefore, that in these regions only
the service of the expert forester in managing the annual cut of mature
timber would be required^ but throughout the more level areas of the
State there are many cases in which these old lands might better be
left to reforestation, either by artificial or by natural agencies, and
thus extend our forest areas.
There are some things, however, that work against this increase of
forest areas in the more level parts of the State. Of course, as popula-tions
increase more land must be brought under cultivation; but this
tendency may be largely offset, or, at least, its progress greatly retarded,
by the fact that scientific agriculture has already, and will in the future,
Commissioner of Agriculture 13
enable the farmer to produce as mucli on one acre as he produced on
five thirty years ago. The farmer, however, is faced with this one
economic proposition that is difficult for him to get around, namely : that
all of his acres are taxed alike, and that since taxes must be paid every
year all of his acres should be made to produce enough to support
themselves, at least to the extent of paying the taxes annually required.
It would seem, therefore, that if our Legislatures could devise a means
whereby newly forested lands, which cannot produce any revenue
whatever under twenty to thirty years, could take a lower rate of taxa-tion
than those under improvement, or which are set to well matured
forests, our farmers would be encouraged to cultivate fewer acres more
intensively and allow all poorer acres to become set in forest growths for
the production of timber and fuel in the years to come.
The terms of the following members of the board expire March first
:
First District, F. P. Latham, Belhaven; Fourth District, Clarence Poo,
Raleigh; Seventh District, C. C. Wright, Hunting Creek; Tenth Dis-trict,
Mrs. Edith K. Yanderbilt, Biltmore.
Following are the biennial reports of the different divisions of the
Department of Agriculture which will show the different lines of work
of the Department and the progress made since 1922 :
ANALYTICAL DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir:—I beg to present herewith a brief report of the work of the
Division of Agricultural Chemistry for the two years,, December 1, 1922
to N'ovember 30, 1924
:
The Analytical Division can make a report of considerable progress
during the past two years. Its new laboratories have recently been
completed and equipped with substantial laboratory tables, desk and
other necessary permanent equipment. With our new quarters and
with the new equipment installed, we feel that greatly increased effi-ciency
and service will follow.
Analyses of fertilizers and various fertilizer materials, cottonseed
meal, soils and miscellaneous products of an agricultural nature have
been made in the usual way and with satisfactory results, the results hav-ing
been published at the usual times in the bulletin of the Department,
with such comm.ents and information as seemed desirable and of interest
and value to those interested in these materials.
The amount and kind of chemical work done in the laboratory during
the two years—December 1, 1922 to JSTovember 30, 1924, is given in the
following summary of analyses made in that time.
Official samples of fertilizers 4,000
Fertilizers and fertilizer materials for farmers 480
Cottonseed meal 450
Limes, limestones, and marls 110
Mineral waters 55
Miscellaneous 75
Soils 200
Total 5,370
) Respectfully submitted,
W. Gr. Haywood,
Fertilizer Chemist.
THE BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATIONS
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—I am submitting lierewitli a report for the Branch Experiment
Stations to be published in the biennial report of the Department
of Agriculture. I trust this will meet with your approval.
This report will be in the form of a summary of the many lines of
investigational work being conducted on the central and seven branch
experiment stations. Special emphasis will be given to the kinds of
work on the different stations due to their locations and to the improve-ments
and notable results since the last biennial report. A detail re-port
of projects will be covered in the following reports of the subject-matter
divisions.
The stations are very favorably located to render service to the farm-ers
over the State. The Central and Swine Research Station at Ealeigh
deal with strictly research projects and some of the more general farm
problems. The six outlying stations are located on the principal soil
regions of the State and are concerned with the problems of their respec-tive
regions. At present 176 approved projects are being conducted on
the experiment stations. These relate directly or indirectly to practi-cally
every phase of agTiculture, and the solution of these problems is
important to the future development of a successful agriculture.
Cea^tral Experimekt Station—Kai^eigh
The program of work on this station is to deal with problems of a
research nature as it offers better equipped laboratories for technical
studies. Some of the more general farm problems are also dealt with.
The station being located adjacent to the State College gives the agri-cultural
students the opportunity of studying the different experimental
projects under way.
The outstanding research problem of the Animal Industry Division
is to determine the effect of cotton meal upon the growth and reproduc-tion
of cows. Some very striking results have been obtained from this
experiment which will have much influence on the amounts of cotton-seed
meal that can safely be used in dairy rations. The early results
have shown that feeding excessive amounts of cottonseed meal causes
abortion, weak calves and soft bone, and that the milk produced from
cows receiving such rations fails to produce normal growth with calves.
During the past year the cottonseed meal was supplemented in various
ways by the use of calcium carbonate, butter fat, cod liver oil, yeast,
mineral steam bone meal and wheat, embry, and with the view of deter-mining
the cause of the ill-effect in feeding excessive amounts of cotton-seed
meal.
16 Biennial Report
The poultry work deals with, diseases of fowls, breeding studies, feed-ing
tests, marketing experiments, problems in incubation, and studies of
the general pathology of the fowl. Much valuable information has been
secured from these tests which is used by the poultrymen of the State,
and in the poultry class at the State College.
The agronomy tests include seed selection and improvement, variety
tests, fertilizer studies. The information gained here is used in advising
general farm practices for the section and classroom studies.
Swine Research Station—Eaxeigh
The station of seventy-six acres is located just South of Raleigh, and
is given over entirely to investigational work with swine. The brick
buildings formerly used by the Veterinary Division for making serum
have been rearranged to meet the requirements of the swine work making
available a nutrition barn, farrowing barn, feed barn and laboratory
which includes room for slaughtering, curing meat, mixing feed, and
office. The farm has been arranged into a system of pastures and feeding
lots, which as a whole is ideal for swine experimental work.
The problem of "Soft Pork" is given first consideration in the inves-tigational
work, and the following projects are being conducted
:
To determine the length of time necessary to make pigs soft on pea-nuts,
and the length of time necessary to harden them after they have
been made soft.
For effect of various amounts of peanuts on body carcasses, ten pigs
sixty to eighty pounds in weight were fed individually for approximately
one hundred and fifteen days.
For effect on body carcass of the same quantity of peanuts being
fed to each pig, four pigs averaging 125 pounds each were individually
fed for about one hundred and ninety-five days.
The adequacy of the protein in peanut meal for supporting growth
when fed properly otherwise supplemented ration was tried on a sixty
pound pig.
For the effect on body carcass of rice feeding following peanut
feedings, pigs of weaning age are being used.
To determine the effect upon carcasses of seventy-five to one hundred
pigs which have been fed peanuts or soybeans for eight weeks, with a
subsequent feeding on corn and tankage for twelve weeks. The results,
show that pigs fed peanuts or soybeans for eight weeks followed by a
feeding period of twelve weeks on corn and tankage did not kill out
strictly hard.
Other tests in determining the cost of raising pigs to weaning age (8
weeks), and feeding tests in connection with pasture crops are under
way.
The Duroc Jersey breed of swine is used exclusively on the station and
sufficient number of brood sows are maintained to raise all pigs re-quired
for the different investigations.
Commissioner of Agriculture 17
Blackland Experiment Station—Wenona
This station is located on a typical area of the black lands which
extend from Virginia well down in Eastern ISTorth Carolina. One of
the largest developments in the last few years have been on these lands.
"With the drainage canals and lateral ditches thousands of acres of this
fertile soil have been cleared and brought into cultivation, which has
attracted many settlers from outside the State. Much information is
needed on the methods of handling these muck soils for best crop re-sults,
and the work on the station is planned with the view of working
out a practical solution of some of the fundamental problems confront-ing
the blackland farmers.
Drainage.—The drainage investigations have proven the value of the
tile drainage for these muck soils. This was doubtful at the beginning
of the test for two reasons; one that with the extremely flat grade re-quired
in laying such tile it would tend to fill up because of muck seeping
through; the other, that as this black soil settles the tile lines would
sag out of grade and thus ruin the drainage. However, 3.6 miles of tile
are now in use on the station farm, and it works perfectly; some of the
lines have been in use for eight years. The size of tile ranges from
four to fifteen inches and is laid at a minimum depth of four feet. The
grade used varies from one-half to one inch per hundred feet. The
lines are spaced 330 feet apart; this being the standard spacing for all
open ditches in this section.
Agronomy.—Corn has been the only money crop so far tried that
succeeds well the first year after clearing, but the practice of contin-uous
cropping with corn, even though lime has been applied, tends to
decrease the original yield. More information is needed on the value
of fertilizers and crops that can be grown in rotation with corn. "With
this in view, a three-year fertilizer rotation test was started on the
station last year : the first year, corn ; second year, spring oats, followed
by soybeans for seed or hay ; third year, Irish potatoes, followed by soy-beans
for seed or hay. Considerable information was gained in the first-year
test, the oats and soybeans making a very favorable showing.
The lime test conducted further proved that lime is essential to the
production of corn and soybeans and that finely ground limestone is
better than marl or hydrated lime.
The fertilizer experiments indicate that stable manure, nitrate of
soda and kainit applied separately or in combination will increase the
yield of corn. Acid phosphate seems to have very little, if any, value
when used alone or in combination with other materials.
The experiments with truck crops, culture practices, hay crop, pas-ture
mixtures and seed improvement have been continued with favor-able
results.
Swine Investigations.—The hog work at the station probably at-tracts
m.ore attention than any other phase of the experimental work.
2
18 Biennial Repokt
The feeding experiments in 1922 proved that fish meal and shelled corn
were better than tankage and shelled corn from the standpoint of gain
and cost.
This year soybean meal was tested against fish meal as to its feeding
value and tests to determine the best grazing crops for swine are under-way
and will be reported on in the next report.
The general crop land is planted to hay and oats and corn with the
view of producing sufficient feed for work-stock and supplying corn for
the extensive hog experiments. Under the present plan two carload of
hogs from the feeding tests will be marketed each year. The car of fifty
hogs shipped in August, 1924, brought 10% cents per pound in Rich-mond
which netted the station $1,052.80 after deducting freight and
hauling charges.
Improveinents.-—The following items of improvements have been com-pleted
since the last report which will facilitate the economic manage-ment
of the station as a whole and greatly add to the general appearance.
ISTew engine and pump house, additional room, porch and bath-room on
tenant house, ISTo. 1 : Septic tank, 500 feet of water line to all hog lots,
fenced four acres additional hog lots, painted horse barn, corn crib,
seven hog farrowing houses, water tank and engine house ; new system of
fences around poultry lots and tenant houses; new central hog feeding
house, and new implement shed 34 x 60 feet with loft above for storage.
CoASTAx Plain Experiment Station—Willard
The experimental work at this station deals with the kind of farming
for the lower coastal plain region of the State, and much valuable infor-mation
has been secured from the many lines of investigational work
which is being used generally by the farmers of the section. The long
time experiments have been carried forward with good results. Several
new projects have been added to the program of work, and many im-portant
improvements have been made during the past two years.
New Undertahings.—The station has undertaken a project of grow-ing
narcissus bulbs. The Government embargo on these bulbs becomes
effective in 1926 thus shutting off an importation of 77,000,000 bulbs
annually. It is believed that no section of the country is better adapted
to the production of narcissus and the station is attempting to lead the
way, and at the same time gain experience which will permit it to advise
others who take up this industry. The station has purchased approxi-mately
65,000 bulbs. These are being planted, and the flowers will be
sold annually to help defray maintenance costs. In 1926 mother bulbs
will be sold under a contract we now hold, and there will be left an ac-cumulation
of smaller bulbs that will permit a sale of mother bulbs
annually thereafter.
In cooperation with the Agronomy Division, a pasture experiment
consisting of ten different experimental plantings has been made; also
a seed breeding project has been started during the year for the improve-
COMMISSIONEK OF AGRICULTURE 19
ment of ISTorfolk Early Market corn (a leading truck crop of tlie sec-tion),
and Cokes Prolific corn, the variety of field corn recommended for
this section.
The station has purchased a four months old bull calf whose pedigree
includes the only two gold medal Jersey bulls south of the Mason and
Dixon line.
Three acres of strawberries (a leading money crop of the section)
have been interplanted with the Muscadine utilization vineyard. This
demonstration of "two-story horticulture" has already attracted consider-able
attention.
A collection of fifteen varieties of Japanese Persimmons, six varieties
of figs and three varieties of native plums have been added to the
orchard plantings.
One acre of dewberries has been planted which includes the important
varieties and will serve as a valuable demonstration for the section.
Improvements.—The improvements made during the past two years
have materially benefited the station and added to its efficiency. The
implement shed begun in 1922 was completed and put into use, and has
in addition to anticipated use, enabled a better handling of the annual
picnic crowds and the storage of surplus hay that would otherwise have
been stacked in the open. ISTew fences were placed about the dairy, and
additional fencing is underway around the calf lots and pasture. A
new building was added to the dairy group which furnishes the much
needed bull pens and maternity stalls. Some minor improvements in
the dairy barn proper were made to permit the daily removal of manure
from the barn to the fields in manure spreader without other handling.
In 1923 a field (which has been named the "Scott Field" in honor of
the member of the board championing the work) was taken in as farm-ing
land. This required tile drainage, as well as clearing. The result
was that this land heretofore idle, yielded thirty bushels of corn per acre
and a crop of soybeans and fodder to turn under. The work of clearing
and establishing the twenty-six acre permanent pasture has been com-pleted.
The poultry work has been enlarged by fencing three acres additional
in poultry runs and providing two new modern range houses. The ex-perimental
work made possible by this expansion will deal chiefly with
feeding tests in comparing the value of meat meal and milk in poultry
rations.
All buildings on the station have been repaired and painted which
greatly adds to the general appearance of the station as a whole.
The station is now furnished with electric lights, having connected
the electric plant at Wallace.
Notable Results.—The station had developed its dairy to the extent
that it was possible in the spring of 1923 to transfer a herd of twenty
animals to the Mountain Branch Station for the purpose of starting an
experimental dairy there.
20 Biennial Report
In the herd development work the first group of heifers matured J
shows an increased milk production over that of their dams. These
"
daughters were sired by Eminent 19th, No. 78620, and have been bred
to Rumina's King, !N"o. 160969. One of the daughters (Lass G's Ola
"No. 49463) has just completed a test that qualifies her for the American
Jersey Cattle Club's Class AA silver medal. She also becomes State
Champion for her breed and State Class Champion for all breeds.
The tests with peanut meal vs. cottonseed meal for maturing heifers
shows that both feeds appear to grow the animals satisfactorily when
mixed with equal parts of crushed corn, oats and wheat bran.
In determining the value of home-mixed vs. ready-mixed feeds for
milk production, the results show home-mixed feeds are in a large ma-jority
of instances more palatable, produce more milk, and cost consider-ably
less per ton.
In the poultry marketing experiments simple rations as equal parts
corn meal and ground oats with milk give as good results as the more
complex and expensive mixtures.
Several new varieties of Muscadine grapes have been developed in the
grape breeding experiments which are very promising, and additional
information has been secured on the methods of pruning and training
also on the grape utilization work.
The fertilizer test of the Agronomy Division have yielded much data
on rotations and fertilizer, which is generally used by the farmers of the
section. The soybean selection work has progressed to the point of sup-plying
seed to the local farmers at a reasonable price.
The anthracnose project of the Botany Division indicates that the
disease is spread by the boll weevil.
The annual farmers' field day and picnic of the station as a means
of getting the station and farmers together proved a great event,
approximately 5,000 people attended the picnic in automobiles and the
trains, buggies and carts brought their quota. A program of appropri-ate
instruction was prepared, which was followed by inspection trips
over the work of the station.
Upper Coastal Plain Experiment Station—Rocky Mount
The program for work on this station has been maintained to the
extent that the most fundamental problems confronting the farmers of
the upper coastal plain region might be given first consideration. At
present boll weevil control, soil fertility, seed improvement, swine feed-ing
tests, cropping systems and horticultural investigations have been
deemed most important and the experiments now underway are care-fully
planned with the view of supplying new information to the farmers
of the section.
Agronomy (Field D).—The agronomy rotation experiment has been
continued and interesting data has been secured on the importance of
Commissioner of Agriculture 21
well planned rotations against continuous cropping with corn and cot-ton.
This test has been running several years, and will soon be ready for
publication.
This past spring a new series of fertilizer experiments were started
to determine the effect of different formula and applications on maturity
and yield of cotton under boll weevil conditions. The results for this
year showed considerable difference in first picking in favor of high or
reasonably high percentage of acid phosphate, and that a heavier appli-cation
of fertilizer than generally used is profitable. The cotton breed-ing
work is confined to Mexican Big Boll variety. The strain developed
here is meeting with much favor over the cotton growing area of the
State, especially in the coastal plain region and Eastern Piedmont, on
account of its uniformity, yield and length of staple. In the plant to
row tests this year many rows showed unusual production and a l/^g
inch staple. The station planted thirty-five acres this year using the
selected seed from last year's crop and will make close to thirty bales
in spite of the unfavorable weather conditions. The seed from this
cotton have been engaged in advance for planting purposes. Last
winter we distributed 800 bushels of purebred seed over the State from
the 1923 crop, and all reports from the parties using our seed were very
favorable.
This year breeding work has been started with Latham's Double field
corn and Fulghum oats.
The work of producing important strains of seed of the better varie-ties
for the section and distributing them at a fair price to the farmers
in the section is proving a great factor in agricultural uplift.
Horticulture.—A year around farm garden is demonstrated on the
station showing the possibilities of having fresh vegetables for the table
at all seasons.
The variety pecan orchard yielded a heavy crop this year, and the
results were favorable in further proving the better varieties for the
upper coastal plain region, namely, Schley, Stuart, Alley, and Success.
The sweet potato seed selection and improvement work showed good
results, and one hundred bushels of improved Porto Eico and N'ancy
Hall seed potatoes were distributed to growers in Eastern ISTorth Caro-lina
last season. With the new modern sweet potato storage house com-pleted
in 1923, storage tests were conducted to determine best method
of storing sweet potatoes, also the storage qualities of different commer-cial
varieties.
Swine Investigations.—^With the purebred herd of Hampshire hogs
and the new equipment added last year, the feeding test this year have
furnished considerable information. As stated in the last report the
primary object of the hog work here is to determine the best method
and cost of carrying a purebred herd under average farm conditions.
This is to include the value of different feeds, pasture crops and utiliz-ing
all the so called waste from the farm. The experiments underway
22 Biennial Report
are: To determine tlie value of a combination of peanuts and sweet
potatoes and the effect on body carcass ; to determine tbe value of sweet
potatoes when fed to bogs ; to determine tbe value of bogging off corn
and soybeans grown togetber and tbe effect on tbe body carcass; to de-termine
tbe cost of raising pigs to weaning age under various conditions
and seasons; to determine tbe practicability of gleaning soybeans and
peanut fields witb pigs in pork production, and to determine tbe adapt-ability
of breeds of swine to various conditions in tbe State.
Tbe data from tbe sweet potato feeding test were especially noticeable.
Cull sweet potatoes were used in tbe first test wbicb bad very little, if
any, market value. Tbe results sbow tbat witb corn at $1 per busbel
and fish meal at $60 per ton, tbe cull sweet potatoes were worth 34
cents per busbel wben fed alone, and 25 cents per busbel wben fed witb
2 per cent corn. Tbe pigs were sold at a premium on tbe local market
because of their excellent quality.
In the second sweet potato test in 1923 pigs were turned into tbe field
and allowed to harvest the crop. They also had access to a self feeder
containing fish meal and mineral mixture. Because of dry weather that
year the yield of sweet potatoes was rather low, since the average area
harvested yielded only 105 bushels per acre, but despite this yield of
potatoes 360 pounds of pork per acre was produced, which is greater than
that from other crops of comparable yields, and in addition the pigs
handled in this way "killed out hard."
Improvements.—The improvements added during the past two years
have facilitated the handling of experimental and general cropwork,
and have increased tbe efficiency of the station as a whole.
A new modern central bog house has been constructed to take care of
the sows at farrowing time, and to provide space for individual dry lot
feeding tests.
A new system of fencing has been installed for tbe hog pastures with
water connections in each lot.
Tbe four tenant bouses have been repaired, and are now in good con-dition
which will enable the farm to hold good labor. Two acres of
waste lands have been cleared and are now in grazing crops for the
hogs.
A new fence has been built around the seven and one-half acre pecan
orchard which adds a great deal to tbe appearance, and provides addi-tional
hog pasture.
The drainage system on the back side of the farm has been improved
thereby bringing into cultivation several acres of land which heretofore
have been idle for want of drainage.
The main drainage ditch through the farm has been straightened and
made deeper which improves the drainage of the pecan orchard and most
of the cultivated lands.
A new and attractive office building was completed last spring fur-nishing
office space and laboratories for tbe administrative and investiga-tional
workers.
Commissioner of Agriculture 23
The superintendent's house has been enlarged and remodeled and is
now a very creditable farm home.
A landscape design has been prepared for the station grounds and
some progress has been made with the shrubbery plantings.
The general farm work is planned as near as possible to produce
feed for the farm work stock and the hog feeding experiments, and to
produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
"While the experimental work is given first consideration, it is im-portant
that our general farm work should be above the average, and
should serve as an example of good farm practises for the upper coastal
plain region. This station is having more calls than ever before for in-formation,
as the boll weevil has about convinced the farmer that it
will be necessary to do better farming than they have been doing.
The second annual field day was held last August with very gratifying
results, and it was voted to make this an annual big farmers day for the
section. About 2,000 people attended the meeting and all seemed very
much interested in the work of the station.
MoTJNTAiisr Experiment Station—Swannanoa
The mountain section of the State embraces the large high plateau >-
area extending from the Tennessee line, and including the irregular
chain of mountains known as the Blue Ridge. The average elevation
of these mountains is around 4,000 feet, although its highest peak,
Mount Mitchell, is 6,711 feet above the sea. The foot hills and river
valleys range from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in altitude, and the soils of this
area are very fertile, although the mountain sides, in many cases, are
cultivated profitably up to their summits.
The Mountain station is located in the Swannanoa River valley, on
the hard-surfaced road between Asheville and Black Mountain, with an
altitude of 2,600 feet. The mean annual temperature being 55.4 degrees,
and the annual precipitation 57.04 inches. The station consists of 305
acres which represent the typical soils of the region. This section has
great agricultural possibilities principally with fruit, truck crops,
dairying, poultry and pasture crops, and the work on the experimental
farm is planned with the view of developing these industries.
The work on the station has grown a great deal in the past two years,
and many improvements in the way of buildings and equipment have
been made. The two major projects added to the work are poultry and
dairy investigations; and modern equipment has been provided to take
care of these important projects. The horticultural work has been en-larged,
and two additional acres were planted with apples to further
provide for the fertilizer and pruning experiments.
Agronomy.—The fertilizer and rotation tests were carried forward
another year, and the results have furnished valuable information for
general farming in the section.
Field A.—Soil fertility and rotation studies with corn, wheat and
red clover. The results indicate that phosphoric acid, nitrogen and
24
" Biennial Report
lime are needed to produce large yields, and that phosphoric acid is
the foremost plant food requirement.
Field B.—Rotation and soil type tests showing the effect of continuous
cropping in comparison with well planned two and three-year rotations
where legumes are used.
Field D.—Rock phosphate tests in rotations of corn, wheat and red
clover. The results so far secured show that acid phosphate is a more
economical carrier of phosphoric acid than is rock phosphate on this
soil.
Field F.—Special potash test, in rotation, consisting of Irish potatoes,
corn, wheat and red clover. The different sources of potash used have
not materially affected the yield of potatoes, and the normal fertilizer
used of 800 pounds of an 8-4-6 seems to give best results.
Field Gr.—To compare phosphoric materials with a complete ferti-lizer,
with limestone and stable manure; the results indicate the lime-stone
and manure with fertilizers give better results than where ferti-lizer
is used alone.
The seed selection and improvement work has been mainly with soy-beans,
Haberlandt Wo. 38 and Biggs field corn, strain ]^o. 17. Tests are
also conducted with wheat, oats, and soybeans. The results have been
very favorable, and the station has been growing these improved seed
for distribution to the farmers of the section.
Horticulture.—The mountain region of the State offers great possi-bilities
as a leading horticultural area in the union, and the projects
underway at the station are to deal with the most fundamental problems.
The following experiments are underway which have already furnished
much information to the industry.
Apple Pruning.—This is one of the outstanding experiments of the
station, and will furnish much needed information on the value of
different systems and different amounts of pruning apple trees. The
results so far secured indicate that growers have been pruning too
severely, thereby causing a reduction in fruit production.
Other tests with apples are to determine the value of thinning on
the size of fruit and fruit-bud formation ; the value of different varieties,
cultural methods and fertilizers.
The work with peaches deals with varieties as to hardiness in Western
ISTorth Carolina. Attention is also given to value of small fruit varieties
and cultural methods.
The truck crop investigations include cabbage variety tests, Irish
potato seed production, Irish potato hill and tuber unit, seed selection
and vegetable garden studies. The results of the Irish potato seed pro-duction
indicate that Western ISTorth Carolina seed potatoes are superior
to JN'orthern grown seed for our spring crop in Eastern ISTorth Carolina.
Animal Industry.—The work on this station comprises poultry and
dairy investigations, and thoroughly modern plants have been provided
to handle each department.
Commissioner of Agrictjltuke 25
The poultry plant which was completed last year is a very creditable
addition to the station and consists of the following : five-room dwelling
for poultryman, incubator house with feed room and laboratory com-bined,
four 16' X 24' brooder houses, one 20' x 50' half monitor house for
the breeding flock, one 20' x 100' half monitor laying house, and ten
acres of land fenced into poultry lots for grazing. The poultry work is
to deal with the problems peculiar to the mountain section, and the
following experiments are under way:
1. "Studies in building up a farm flock." The breeding flocks, two in
number, consist of single-comb Ehode Island Eeds and single-comb
White Leghorns. The two flocks contain 150 hens each, with 12 cockerels.
Twelve hens laid during the past year between 200 and 258 eggs each,
several of which were State records.
2. Feeding tests are being conducted to determine the kinds and
amounts of feed for the breeding flocks.
3. The range experiments are to determine the methods of handling
and the suitability of different pasture crops per chickens in the moun-tain
section of the State.
4. One unit of 500 single-comb White Leghorns is maintained as an
experimental commercial unit.
5. Incubation experiments in connection with the two breeding flocks
are carried on in view of developing high producing flocks.
6. Studies in determining the cost of putting birds into the laying
house by ISTovember 1st are under way.
7. Fattening tests are being conducted to determine the value of milk
feeding young chickens before marketing.
8. Studies are made in the cost of marketing eggs and poultry.
The poultry work for the year gave very satisfactory results, and
further indicates that it is a profitable industry for the mountain sec-tion
of the State, if handled in an intelligent manner.
The dairy work which was started in the spring of 1923 is to deal
with the problems of the dairyman in the western part of the State.
A herd of twenty Jersey cattle was transferred to the station from the
Coastal Plain Station at Willard, and a herd bull of Eminent breeding
has been purchased. The necessary equipment has been added to handle
the project as follows : dairy barn complete with concrete fioor and
mangers, the necessary water connections and drains, stanchions to ac-commodate
28 animals, feed room and milk room, and a one-hundred-ton
concrete silo connecting with the feed alley, a thoroughly modern milk
house with boiler room, washing room and milk room equipped with
Babcock tester, cream separator, milk cooler and sterilizer, calf barn
18' X 60' with two bull pens combined and loft above for storage.
The experimental work at present deals with feeding and pasture
tests, herd development and management and marketing dairy products.
Plans are under way to build a small cheese laboratory in connection
with the dairy and conduct experiments in marketing Swiss cheese.
26 BiENisriAL Repokt
Aside from tlie improvements in dairy and poultry plants, an attrac-tive
new spring lionse lias been built of native rock combining engine
and pump room, milk cooling room and a section given over to tiie
spring. A new garage also bas been constructed to bouse tbe station
automobile, truck and tractor,
A new five-room dwelling for tlie dairyman was built last spring,
a fruit and vegetable storage house lias been recently completed wbich.
will provide storage for the good crop of apples and Irish potatoes pro-duced
on the station this year.
The general farm land is handled in a way to demonstrate good farm-ing
methods for the section, to produce feed for the work stock, dairy
and poultry, and to produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
The rapid development of the station has attracted many visitors
seeking information on the various phases or agriculture. The station
is a gathering place for those interested in agriculture, the fertilizer
manufacturers and principals of rural schools with their agricultural
classes; county agents with groups of farmers and many others visit
the station during the year and study the different experiments under
way. The third Thursday in August is set aside for the big annual
Field Day and picnic, which has proved a very popular event, and has
been helpful in getting our work before the farmers throughout the
mountain section. An instructive program is prepared which is followed
by inspection trips to the fields where the different experiments are ex-plained
by the specialist in such a way that the farmer may take home
results and apply them to his conditions.
Piedmont Experiment Station—Statesville
The Piedmont region comprises nearly one-half of the territory of
the State, and the soils and climate are suited to a wide range of agri-cultural
pursuits. The station farm is located pretty well to the center
of this area and the conditions there are typical of the Piedmont section.
The important farm problems for the region are dealt with on the
station farm, and much definite information has already been obtained
on the better farm practices and is being generally used in the section.
Agronomy.—The agronomy experiments are more extensive here than
at any other station in the State. The tests include three series of soil
fertility and rotation tests with cotton, corn, wheat and red clover : Pield
D brings out the value of well planned rotations in comparison with con-tinuous
cropping; Field E—soil type studies; Field F—nitrogenous
materials for corn and cotton; Field Gr—rock phosphate tests; Field K
—
tests with soft phosphates.
The ISTovember bulletin published on Fertilizer Experiments with
Wheat on Piedmont Red Clay Soils and Wheat Culture in ISTorth Caro-lina
is a report on the results of the work with wheat on this station,
1911 to 1921 inclusive, and the information contained therein should be
of great value to the Piedmont farmers.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 27
The seed selection and improvement work has been continued "with
the following crops: Appier oats increased strain INTo. 11, Abruzzi rye
increase strain 'No. 7, Virginia soybeans No. 11, Leaps Prolific wheat
increase strain No. 32, King Cotton strain IsTo. 29, and "Weekly's Im-proved
corn. Variety studies with oats, rye and barley have been
carried on. The results of the breeding work have been very valuable,
and the station is now growing these improved strains and distributing
them to farmers over the Piedmont section at a reasonable cost.
Horticulture.-—-"Work with small fruits, apples, peaches and pears is
under way in determining varieties, methods of cultivation, intercrop-ping,
pruning, spraying and marketing; the results have been most in-structive.
A new four acre experimental apple and peach orchard was
planted in the spring of 1923 which includes some of the newer varie-ties
for the Piedmont. Tests will be conducted with this orchard from
the standpoint of fertilization, pruning and intercropping.
Livestock.—The work here is confined mainly to hogs, sheep and
feeding experiments with the work stock. The main sheep project is
to determine the kind of pasture suited to sheep under Piedmont con-ditions
and some very striking results have been obtained both with
summer and winter pastures. A flock of thirty ewes and one ram is
maintained on the station, and information is secured on the cost of
maintaining breeding ewes and producing lambs. A series of pastures
have been arranged that will provide grazing practically the year round
for the sheep and hog feeding tests.
The swine experiments show that it costs $3.97 to raise pigs to weaning
age and that the number of pigs in the litter has little effect upon the
size of each pig at weaning time. Complete information on the methods
and cost of raising pigs to weaning age is given in a recent bulletin pre-pared
by the Animal Industry Division. Further tests are under way
to determine the value of different grazing crops for swine. Eight pure-bred
Poland China brood sows and a boar are used in these experi-ments.
Feeding tests with the farm work stock show that cottonseed meal
is relished more by horses than mules, and that one and one-half pounds
can be fed daily to work stock. When cottonseed meal is fed the grain
ration is cheapened slightly.
General Crops.—The station farm consists of two hundred and ten
acres, of which seventy acres are devoted to experimental plats, forty
acres to pasture, eighteen acres to orchard, twelve acres to grove, yards,
and garden, and the remainder to general crops. The general crop
lands are handled in a way to demonstrate good farming methods for
the section with the view of growing sufiicient corn, oats and hay for
the livestock, and to produce such money crops as may seem advisable.
Some twenty years ago when the station was established the farmers
were not especially interested in improved methods of farming, but as
the work on the station developed the local interest began to increase
28 Biennial Report
until today the station stands out as an agricultural institution for the
Piedmont area. The popularity of the station is further emphasized
by the attendance at the main farmers field day held last July which
numbered five thousand people. Several smaller meetings were held
during the year with good attendance for the purpose of recreation and
studying the work of the farm. The county agents frequently bring
groups of farmers from adjoining counties to study the results from
the different experiments. These meetings are becoming more popular
each year and are encouraged as they are one of the best means of bring-ing
the farmers in touch with the station, and of getting results of our
work put into practice.
Tobacco Experiment Station—Oxford
The tobacco experimental work here has been continued in coopera-tion
with the TI. S. Department of Agriculture and additional informa-tion
on tobacco culture has been secured. The principal experiraents
under way are fertilizer tests, variety tests, rotation systems for tobacco,
tobacco after cowpeas, permanent tobacco seed beds, potash and lime
experiments, nutrition investigations with continuous cropping, legume
effects and general crop effects.
The results of the magnesium and potash plats were especially out-standing
this year. "Where fairly liberal applications of magnesia were
applied either from dolomitic limestone or double manure salts and
kainit no ''Sand Drown" was prevalent, with the exception of double
manure salts plots where calcite was applied and no lime was applied.
On these two plats small percentage of the plants developed symptoms of
^'Sand Drown" indicating that the amount of available magnesia was
insufficient to mature the large growth of the leaf which prevailed last
season. The tobacco fertilizer plats further proved that cottonseed
meal as an individual source of nitrogen stands highest with nitrate of
soda, dried blood and ammonium sulphate next in order named, al-though
a mixed nitrogen composed of one-fourth of each of the above
ingredients gave satisfactory results. Acid phosphate gave better results
than any of the other sources of phosphate. Muriate of potash produced
tobacco with a larger yield and higher market value than tobacco grown
with high-grade sulphate of potash, although all tests have shown that"
tobacco from sulphate of potash has better burning quality than that
produced with muriate of potash. The test with twenty-five so-called
varieties was conducted and selections were made from each variety with
the object of improving the yield and quality, also some crosses were
made with the view of developing new outstanding varieties.
Experiments with tobacco after cowpeas have been fairly satisfactory,
but in order to get best results from such cropping it is necessary to
plant tobacco close, top high, and harvest by priming, if not, an exces-sive
amount of nitrogen will produce tobacco of poor quality.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 29
Under the direction of this station tobacco demonstration tests were
conducted in Reidsville and Clarkton. These tests furnished first-hand
information to the tobacco growers of the respective localities.
In addition to the experimental work with tobacco some work with
seed corn breeding and selection has been conducted on this station in
comiection with Plant Breeders' Office of the College and Central Sta-tion,
and the results have been helpful in supplying good seed for the
station's use, and some for distribution to the farmers in the section.
Several meetings have been held at the station this year at which
experimental work was studied, results observed in the field with dis-cussions
of various phases.
On August 14th around 1,500 farmers and business men attended
the annual field day at this station, at which several of the members of
the Board of Agriculture and officials of the Department discussed the
object of the Experiment Station work and results obtained. This was
followed by inspection trips to experimental plats. Last year about
.thirty representatives of the fertilizer manufacturers with several ferti-lizer
dealers, business men and farmers met at the station to discuss
fertilizer problems for tobacco. Several county agents brought farmers
to the station to study tobacco problems. In all there has been a larger
number of farmers both locally and from other counties to visit the
station this year than heretofore. The local high schools have taken
more interest in the work this year than previously.
In regard to improvements on the station will state that some pro-gress
has been made in carrying out the landscape plans si^bmitted by
Prof. Mulford of the U. S. Department of Agriculture last spring. A
new garage and poultry house have been built at a nominal cost. Most
of the out-buildings have been painted.
The large drainage project will be completed by the close of the year.
This will add to the value of the farm and greatly improve the general
appearance. The survey, which was prepared by the Drainage Division,
required 1,910 feet of tile, ranging from 8 to 18 inches, 1,500 feet of
6-inch and 3,000 feet of 4-inch tile. This will make fifty acres of land
available for cultivation heretofore idle for lack of proper drainage and
will also benefit the adjoining lands. The new lands will be used for
enlarging the general crop work on the station during the coming year,
and later given over to experimental work as needed.
The crops on the station as a whole have been fairly good this year.
Plenty of feed stuffs have been made for the farm and some to spare.
As a whole the work has progressed satisfactorily both as to experi-ments
and general cropping.
Note.—The insect and plant control measures on all stations are under the
direction of the Entomology and Botany Divisions. The spray calendar for
each station is prepared by these divisions and the actual spraying or dusting
operations are under close supervision.
B. "W. KiLGOEE, Director.
F. E. Miller^ Assistant Director.
MUSEUM
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—I beg t'o submit berewitb my biennial report as Curator of the
State Museum for the years 1923 and 1924.
The chief duties of the Curator during this period have been those
connected with the completion and equipment of the Agricultural
Building, and the rehabilitation and equipment of the Museum Build-ing.
As secretary of the Building Committee and of the Purchasing Com-mittee
of the Department, all the detail work of these committees has
been in my hands, but this work is now largely completed, at the oppor-tune
time when more active work is being taken up in connection with
putting the Museum in condition to again serve the public.
The time of my assistant, Mr. Harry Davis, has also been so occupied,
'
except for that devoted to his work in the identification and analysis
of all the specimens of minerals that come to the Department for exami-nation
and this work is steadily increasing, an average of more than
twenty specimens a month being submitted for examination and analy-sis.
We have added equipment to the Museum Mineralogical Laboratory
so that this part of our work can be handled more effectively, and I wish
to state here that Mr. Davis has proved an invaluable aid in all the
building an^ equijDment work that has been placed with us as well as
in his special lines and in the general work of Museum administration.
We have done what we could in keeping our stored specimens in
some kind of shape, but the crowded condition of the storage makes
this a very difficult problem and we will undoubtedly find a considerable
deterioration in evidence when we start our rearrangement program
after the completion of the remodeling and rehabilitation of the Museum
rooms.
The work of the Museum in the future is going to require more
money than it has in the past. We have done what we could on a
minimum of expenditure,, but we have reached a point now where if
we fail to go forward we will have to go backward—and the Depart-ment
can hardly allow that.
The Museum has been out of commission for two and a half years
and it is still not unusual for several hundred visitors a day to call at
the Agricultural Building, the State Departments Building and the
Museum Building to inquire as to the present location of the Museum,
indicating in a degree to what extent it is being missed by the public.
We have been badly handicapped and delayed in our reconstruction
work by the continued presence of some of the laboratories and their
"jvorkers in the Museum rooms, and it was late in September, 1924,
COMMISSIONEK OF AGRICULTURE 31
before these rooms were finally vacated by tlie last of the DepartmeBt's
forces that had been temporarily housed therein.
Owing to an insufficiency of funds for the completion of all the neces-sary
work, that is, the work in all of the exhibition rooms, it has seemed
best at this time to confine our effort and our remaining funds to eight
of the nine rooms, leaving the largest of them, that on the second floor
on the Salisbury Street side of the building, which is 39 by 95 feet in
size, for future attention.
The seven old rooms of the Museum had remained virtually without
repairs from the time of their erection, a period of from 25 to 28 years.
Their condition was very bad all through. All the old plaster on the
walls had to be removed and replaced, every window frame and sash
needed repairs and all the glass had to be reset.
The acute fire risk on the north side of the building has been largely
eliminated by installing fireproof windows on that side.
The woodwork in all the rooms needs repainting, and the condition
of the floors calls for replacement in some rooms and recovering in all.
But the work is progressing satisfactorily and by the time this report
reaches your hands the plastering (except in Room ISTo. 9 as before in-dicated)
will have been completed. This will be immediately followed
by the painting, and the treatment of the floors will follow that.
The present outlook would indicate that we will have a part of the
Museum open to the public some time during the present winter, and
the remainder will be pushed to completion as fast as the rooms can be
finished and the cases and exhibits renovated, repaired and installed.
The new handsome and dignified entrance on Halifax Street will be
a wonderful improvement over the old arrangement, and we now face
the problem of making the interior equally as much a credit to the
State. And it is to this end that we are now applying our efforts.
We hope and expect to rebuild the Museum into an institution of even
greater value to ISTorth Carolina than it has been in the past, an insti-tution
of which both the Department and the citizenship of the State
may well be proud, and this can be done if we can secure the funds that
are essential to that end. But we cannot make it what it should be with-out
such funds. A museum is now recognized as a visual educational
institution of the highest value to its surrounding population, and it is
•always one of the first items of interest in a city to be visited by both
transient and stay-over visitors. And through such visitors the lessons
taught by the institution are disseminated far and wide. And ours, as
a strictly ISTorth Carolina museum, has been, and can continue to be,
one of the very best advertising and visual educational mediums the
State has ever had. Respectfully submitted,
H. H. Brimley.
Curator, State Museum.
VETERINARY DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sik:—I herewitli submit the biennial report of tbe Veterinary Divi-sion
covering the period from December 1, 1922, to December 1, 1924.
Details bave been omitted in order to make tbe report brief.
Tick Eradication
Since Marcb 3, 1923, we bave conducted tick eradication under tke
tick eradication law enacted by tbe last Legislature. Tbis law divided
tbe quarantine counties (nineteen) into tbree zones—Zone 1 to work in
1923, Zone 2 in 1924, and Zone 3 in 1925. Altbougb we bad a very late
start last year in Zone 1, tbe work was pusbed vigorously, and on De-cember
31, 1923, tbe counties of Gates, Hertford, Bertie, Camden and
Perquimans and tbat portion of Beaufort County lying north of tbe
Pamlico Biver and tbe banks of Dare County from Oregon Inlet to tbe
Currituck County line were released from State and Federal quarantine,
leaving only a few infested premises in tbese counties to be worked
during tbe 1924 season. "We did not complete tbe work in Currituck
County in 1923 on account of tbe county commissioners not getting tbe
vats finished until very late in the season. Dipping was continued in
this county this season and the county was released from quarantine
August 1, 1924.
As you know, Currituck County borders on Princess Anne County,
Virginia, on the north. There is a strip of land in Currituck County
between Currituck Sound and the ocean known as tbe Banks, which
extends into the State of Virginia. I recently visited this section and
found at the State line that this strip of land (the Banks) was between
two and three miles wide. The ocean side is a sand bed and the sound
side is more or less wooded. I also found that this was open range with
a number of cattle on it that go over the State line at will. We have a
vat located just below the State line and dip all of our cattle regularly,
and also dip some Virginia cattle. There is a vat in Virginia, just over
the line, but not all of the cattle are being properly dipped. There is a
possibility of our cattle becoming reinfested by ticky cattle from Vir-ginia,
making it necessary for us to continue to inspect the cattle on this
range at frequent intervals.
Active tick eradication was started in Zone 2, comprising tbe counties
of Martin, Washington, Tyrrell, Hyde, Dare and that portion of Beau-fort
County lying south of the Pamlico Eiver on January 1, 1924. The
work was conducted vigorously and all of tbese counties will be released
from State and Pederal quarantine December 1, 1924. Dipping has
been discontinued at this time in Zone 2 except those herds which it
was necessary to keep in quarantine.
Commissioner of Agriculture 33
Ntjmbee of Herds or Premises and ISTumber of Cattle to be Held in
Quarantine in Zone 2
Martin—three premises—three herds—fifty-tliree cattle.
Washington—one premise—no cattle.
Tyrrell—twenty-eight premises—twenty-eight herds—one hundred twenty-four
cattle.
Dare—two premises—thirty-eight herds—one hundred thirty cattle.
Hyde—seventy premises—seventy herds—six hundred fifty-six cattle.
Beaufort (south of Pamlico River)—three premises-^three herds—fifty-two
cattle.
There will also remain under quarantine at tlie end of this season
twenty-six premises or herds outside of Zones 2 and 3.
We have met with the boards of county commissioners of the counties
in Zone 3 with a view of having them build vats and otherwise prepare
these counties for systematic tick eradication in 1926. All of the coun-ties
in Zone 3 are now constructing vats, and we hope to have these coun-ties
ready for systematic tick eradication January 1, 1925. Zone 3 com-prises
4,466 square miles, and it will require approximately 450 vats.
In Zone 1 there are 3,384 square miles of territory, requiring 388 vats.
In Zone 2 there are 2,441 square miles and 236 vats. During 1923 there
was dipped 112,300 herds of 388,624 cattle and 625 herds of 1,473
ponies. During the ten months ending October 31, 1924, we dipped
78,709 herds of 259,868 cattle and 4,350 herds of 8,219 ponies.
One of the greatest problems we have to deal with is wild or semi-wild
cattle. All of this territory prior to January 1, 1922, was under
free range, and while stock law is now being generally observed, there
are many large community pastures and many swamps in which wild
or semi-wild cattle roam at large. We have encountered wild cattle in
all of the counties in Zones 1 and 2. The approximate number being as
follows
:
Zone 1 Zone 2
Camden 300 Martin 25
Currituck 100 Washington 15
Perquimans 75 Tyrrell 150
Gates 25 Dare 200
Hertford 15 Hyde 400
Bertie 25 Beaufort 100
The wild cattle have been captured or slaughtered in all of the above
counties, except Tyrrell and Hyde, and we believe that this work will be
completed in these two counties by January 1, 1925. It has been neces-sary
in a good many instances to trail these cattle with dogs like deer
in order to slaughter or capture them. The difficult part of this is to
capture or slaughter the last few cattle in a swamp. Some of these
cattle range over an area fifteen by thirty miles. This has been the most
difficult tick eradication encountered in any state, due to these wild
cattle and to the lack of interest in better cattle by cattle owners. In
3
34 BiENisriAL Report
order to complete tick eradication in any county it is necessary to free
all cattle of ticks. "We nave placed the responsibility of getting these
cattle on the owners, and in this we have been upheld by the courts.
These cattle are in most instances a nuisance and of little value.
During the extra session of the Legislature in August, 1924, a bill
was introduced amending the Tick Eradication Law in such a way as
to make the law not apply to wild cattle. This bill was finally defeated.
If the Tick Eradication Law was so amended it would make the com-pletion
of tick eradication impossible. "We have received spleiadid co-operation
from the courts in enforcing the Tick Eradication Law. Most
of the counties have cooperated in a satisfactory manner.
Tuberculosis Eradication
Tuberculosis eradication in animals has progressed during the year
in a very satisfactory manner. Practically all of this work is done
under the area plan; that is, the testing of all cattle in a county. This
work is conducted in cooperation with the U. S. Bureau of Animal In-dustry
and the several boards of county commissioners. The following
counties have completed the work
:
Scotland Cumberland Alamance Durham
Rowan Cabarrus Wayne Franklin
Pender Buncombe Mecklenburg Halifax
New Hanover Forsyth Stokes Lenoir
Davie Robeson Guilford
Wilson Greene Stanly
Davidson Iredell McDowell
We have more counties that have completed tuberculosis eradication
than all of such counties combined in the other states.
The work is now being conducted in the following counties
:
Rutherford Wake Cleveland Chowan
Union Gaston Moore Edgecombe
Rockingham Northampton Pitt Henderson
Randolph Warren Anson Richmond
Polk Surry Hoke
Transylvania Johnston Person
The work will be completed in several of these counties at an early
date.
The following counties have recently made an appropriation for
this work: Burke, Yancey. Work will be started in these counties at
an early date.
From IsTovember 1, 1922, to IsTovember 1, 1924, there has been tested
227,275 cattle. Of this number 965, or less than one-half of one per
cent, were found to be affected with tuberculosis. All of the tuberculous
animals were slaughtered and the owners were indemnified in accordance
with the law covering. During the two-year period we have paid 816
claims amounting to $26,881.14.
Commissioner of Agriculture 35
Summary of Testing Cattle Reactors
1918 1 4,358 104
1919 : 7,445 168
1920 10,389 219
1921 23,402 385
1922 114,296 785
1923 104,030 499
1924 (10 months) 102,326 381
As previously stated we now have a total o£ forty-nine counties co-operating
in this work. Included in tliis number are most of the
richer counties of the State that were able to pay for this work without
any trouble whatever. "We now have left fifty-one counties to work.
Many of these counties are not at this time financially able to take up
this work unless material assistance is given by this Department and
the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
I believe that it is important that this work be completed in all coun-ties
as rapidly as possible, thus preventing reinfestation of the counties
already completed. The infection is light in these counties at this time
and it will cost much less to complete the work now than if we wait until
the disease has spread further. In view of this, I believe that this De-partment
should allow a very liberal appropriation for this work or
secure same from the Legislature and a law should be enacted requiring
all cattle in the remaining counties to be tested.
Hog Cholera
We have had some hog cholera but not as much as in previous years.
There are many sections where cholera seems to exist at all times. Al-though
hog cholera serum can be absolutely depended upon to control
cholera, there are many owners who will not vaccinate their hogs until it
is too late.
The feeding of raw garbage and the shipping of hogs for immediate
slaughter into the State are responsible for a considerable part of our
cholera. We are constantly trying to control this, but they are difficult
problems to handle. We now require those who desire to receive hogs
for immediate slaughter to maintain proper facilities for handling
them, and to use them for immediate slaughter only. We require such
establishments to have a permit, and we frequently inspect the premises.
Just at this time we have no one regularly employed on hog-cholera
work. We are taking care of outbreaks and giving assistance, where
needed, with the inspection force of this office, who also look after out-breaks
of other contagious diseases.
Our practicing veterinarians are becoming more numerous and the
livestock owners are fast learning the value of veterinary service.
There has been a decided decrease in hog cholera in the eastern part
of the State as a result of the stock law. From ISTovember 1, 1922, to
ISTovember 1, 1924, we have distributed 3,750,965 c.c. of serum—a de-cided
decrease over previous years.
36 Biennial Repoet
Investigations
About the usual number o£ investigations on reported outbreaks of dis-eases
liave been made by inspectors of this office. We have had no serious
outbreaks of disease during this period, but we have had numerous re-ports
which have been investigated. Two animals affected with glanders
have been found and destroyed. Frequent visits are made to the inspec-tors
engaged in tick eradication work and tuberculosis eradication work.
Both of these projects are being conducted on a large scale and close
supervision is necessary. We have also made frequent visits to the ex-periment
stations and State institutions to look after the livestock on
these farms.
In order to do effective work in the control and eradication of con-tagious
diseases of livestock it is essential that a diagnostic laboratory
be available. We feel constantly the need of such a laboratory at the
present time to check up on the field work which we are doing. The
states of Georgia and South Carolina require that all cattle shipped into
those states shall first pass a negative blood test for contagious abortion.
Our farmers who desire to ship cattle into those states must depend
upon blood samples being sent out of the State to commercial labora-tories,
thus causing expense, delay, and inconvenience. If we are to
conduct investigations for the control of contagious abortion and for
the control and eradication of internal parasites of livestock, it is very
necessary that we have a diagnostic laboratory.
Eespectfully submitted,
William Mooee,
State Veterinarian.
ANIMAL INDUSTRY DIVISION
To the Commissioner of Agriculture:
Sir :—In response to your request for a biennial report, I am pleased
to furnish, you with a rather complete summary of the work performed
by the Animal Industry workers, embracing research and extension for
the period ending November 30, 1924.
I am sure you realize fully that it would be practically impossible to
furnish you with the many details of the work in research and exten-sion
as conducted during the year. In order that you may have a com-prehensive
idea of the many problems which are being covered in the
two above lines of work, I have included a list of the various offices in
the division and the personnel of each. Each worker has a number of
definitely outlined projects and the magnitude of work under way can
thus be visualized without difficulty.
For your information and guidance I wish to say that this division
has twenty-nine definitely outlined projects in livestock research, ex-clusive
of poultry, which work was conducted under the auspices of this
division during the last fiscal year. The extension workers of the divi-sion
have thirty-nine definitely outlined projects, making a total of
sixty-eight projects in all.
At the conclusion of the report covering the work of the current year,
I am attaching a list of these projects with a brief outline of each. I
am sure that by having these before you you will be enabled to make a
more exhaustive study of the problems under way.
If there is any additional information which you need I will be pleased
to furnish it upon request, I wish to again mention that the informa-tion
which I am giving you is merely a brief outline covering the various
projects, giving the high lights in each with a statement of progress
or results obtained, as the case may be.
The following is the report by offices embraced in the division
:
ANIMAL NUTRITION
J. O. HAI.VERSON, In Charge
F. W. Sherwood, Assistant
H. A. DiCKERT, Assistant
The following soft-pork studies, as reported by Dr. Halverson, are in co-operation
witlL Mr. Hostetler, in charge of Swine Investigations
:
1. SoFT-PoKK Investigations
(a) Soft-Pork Experiment IX.—This work was conducted for the purpose
of determining the effect of various amounts of peanuts on the body carcasses
of young weaned pigs which were fed individually on the above ration for a
period of five months.
38 Biennial Repoet
In this work it was determined that there was a very marked softening
effect on the carcasses of young pigs when fed a peanut ration. The determi-nation
of this fact is of great economic importance, since a large portion of
Eastern North Carolina is well adapted to the growing of peanuts. The
determination of this fact is a step toward overcoming the ultimate conse-quences
of softening feeds when fed to hogs.
(b) Soft-Pork Experiment X.—In this study different methods of feeding
peanuts and hardening feeds were tried. It is a known fact that such feeds
as peanuts and soja beans produce soft carcasses, and that these effects can
be overcome in a measure at least by feeding such rations as corn, digester
tankage, and rice products.
In this particular study three of the pigs fed according to farm practice
killed hard. The other group graded medium hard. All of them passed
market requirements, the results, therefore, being very satisfactory.
(c) Soft-Pork Experiment XI.—Eight pigs of an approximate weight of 90
pounds each were fed individually on peanuts in varying amounts from one
and one-half months to three months to determine the quantity of peanuts
required to make a pig kill soft.
The results of this work show that there was a varying degree of softness,
depending upon the length of time fed. In other words, there was a gradual
softening of the carcasses as they grew heavier and the period of peanut feed-ing
was extended.
(d) Soft-Pork Studies XII.—This study to determine the effect of different
methods of feeding peanuts and hardening feeds on the carcasses of hogs is
similar to the Soft-Pork Experiments X and VII. Six pigs one-half as large
as those used in Experirnent X were fed for three months. All killed hard
or medium hard after receiving as much as 140 pounds of shelled peanuts.
Results are satisfactory. Chemical work on this experiment, however, has
not been completed.
(e) Soft-Pork Experiment XIII.—This experiment is to study the effect of
peanuts on gestation, lactation, growth, and the condition of the carcasses of
pigs grown to a considerable size. Inasmuch as this work is in progress, no
conclusive report can be made showing results.
2. The Effect of Cottonseed Meal and Hulls on Breeding, Gestation,
Lactation, and Growth op Cattle
This project is in cooperation with Mr. Vernon M. "Williams from May 1st
last, and Mr. R. S. Curtis, in charge of dairy cattle and beef cattle investiga-tions
respectively.
The plan of this work and the object in view is to determine definitely the
amounts of cottonseed meal which can be fed under normal conditions to
animals, having in mind the effects on the above mentioned factors or condi-tions.
It is well known that the amounts of cottonseed meal which can be fed
are limited. This has been attributed to toxicity in the meal and the purpose
of this experiment is to work out definitely the causes, and then undertake
to remedy the defects or deficiencies.
This work has been continued for a second gestation and lactation period
on fifteen cows, five of which were heifers. During these two years supple-ments
have been fed with cottonseed meal with the following results
:
It can be stated definitely that during these two years work with supple-mentary
feeds more cottonseed meal has been fed to these cows than pre-viously,
the cottonseed meal averaging approximately 86.2 per cent of the
total grain ration consumed. Some striking results have been obtained in
breeding, lactation, production of live calves, and raising them on their
mothers' milk with nothing but corn husks for roughage.
Commissioner of Agriculture 39
No convulsions or deaths have occurred during the period when supple-ments
were fed. Some of the cows have gradually declined in weight and
gone off feed. The adjustment of the proper amount of supplements and the
proper balancing of these rations with cottonseed meal and hulls is difficult,
and therefore more work is required.
The results of this work are very gratifying and justify pursuing it until
facts are definitely established.
3. Onion Flavor in Milk
This work was conducted in cooperation with Mr. Stanley Combs, formerly
in charge of Dairy Cattle Investigations. This work was for the purpose of
determining the effect of Mrs. Lea's Milk and Butter Purifier, a proprietary
mixture on milk flavored with onions. The results have been published and
are cited at the close of this section of the report.
4. The Nutrition Quality or Butter from Cows Fed on Dry Feeds and on
Summer Pastuee
This project is being pursued. Albino rats are used and fed on highly
purified rations to determine the effect of butter produced from cows made
under the above conditions.
5. Mineral Supplements, Chiefly Calcium, in Relation to the Mixed
Feeds for Farm Animals
This project on mixed feeds and their by-products has been pursued for two
years and the results published, the citation following.
6. The Nutritive Value of Peanuts
(a) This study of the effect on reproduction is being pursued on small
animals. In this case albino rats are used. The peanut meal used is obtained
from the Protein Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
(b) This study is also being pursued on a sow during gestation and lacta-tion.
The sow produced 13 pigs under these conditions of feed. Eleven lived,
nine of which are still living and the mother is being maintained on the same
ration.
Note.—I would like to add that work of the nature that Dr. Halverson is
pursuing is usually involved, and it is, therefore, difficult to give a satisfactory
report, this being especially true in case of those who are looking for conclu-sive
statements.
The field of nutrition is new when considered in the light of actively pur-suing
the many problems confronting Animal Industry workers. It should
be remembered that the economic importance of the above problems are such
that it would be a most profound mistake to give out statements until every
angle of the various problems under way are searched out dihgently. This is
merely offered for explanation to aid the reader in considering these studies.
7. Publications, 1924
(a) "The Calcium Requirements of Animals in Relation to the Calcium
Content of Feeds," by J. O. Halverson and L. M. Nixon, Commercial Feeds,
1923. The Bulletin of North Carolina Department of Agriculture. June. 1924,
page 25.
(b) "Onion Milk Investigation—Mrs. Lea's Milk and Butter Purifier." by
Stanley Combs and J. O. Halverson, The Bulletin, Commercial Feeds, 1923
N. C. Department of Agriculture, June, 1924, page IS.
40 BiENKiAL Report
(c) "Minerals in Animal Nutrition," by J. O. Halverson, Association of
Feed Control Officials, Washington, D. C. October 23, 1924.
(d) "The Calcium Requirements of Farm Animals," by J. O. Halverson,
Flour and Feed, Vol. XXV. November, 1924, No. 6.
(e) "The Lime Content in Feeds in Relation to the Requirements of Farm
Animals," by J. O. Halverson and L. M. Nixon, Flour and Feed, XXV.
November, 1924, No. 6.
(f) "The Chemical Analysis of Okra Seed (Hibiscus Esculentus)," by
B. Naiman and L. M. Nixon, American Chemical Society, Local Section,
Trinity College, Durham, May 3, 1924.
(g) "Soft Pork and its Causes I: Some Results of Soft Pork Investigations
II," by J. O. Halverson and Earl Hostetler, N. C. Academy of Science, May 2,
1924.
(h) "Notes on Gossy-Pol," by F. W. Sherwood, N. C. Academy of Science,
May 2, 1924.
(i) "Vitality of Albino Rats for Experimental Purposes," by F. W. Sher-wood,
N. C. Academy of Science, May 3, 1924.
SWINE INVESTIGATIONS
Eael H. Hostetler, In charge
L. H. McKay, Assistant
This office has been actively engaged in conducting swine research work at
the Swine Research Farm, Raleigh, and at four of the branch experiment
stations, namely : Piedmont, Blackland, Upper Coastal Plains, and Coastal
Plains. A project is outlined for the Tobacco and Mountain Stations, and the
work will probably be started by January 1, 1925.
Considerable new physical equipment has been installed at all of the farms
and we have, therefore, been able to do more and better work than heretofore.
On September 1, 1924, Mr. L. H. McKay was secured to do research and
teaching work with swine.
The following is a report of the projects under way and the results obtained
:
SWINE RESEARCH FARM, RALEIGH
J. T. Keesee, Superintendent and Herdsman
There are four main projects being carried on at this farm with a herd of
purebred Duroc-Jersey swine, as follows
:
1. Value of Pastures for Pigs
(a) Ohject.-—The object of this work was to determine the cost of carrying
pigs from weaning age to 200 pounds with and without pasture.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to use 56 weaned pigs and divide them equally
into six lots of eight pigs each, except lot 6, which had 16 pigs, as follows
:
Lot 1—Self-fed in dry lot.
Lot 2—Three per cent grain with permanent pasture.
Lot 3—Grain self-fed with permanent pasture.
Lot 4—Grain self-fed with temporary pasture.
Lot 5—Three per cent grain with temporary pasture.
Lot 6—Two per cent grain with temporary pasture.
The permanent pasture consisted of orchard grass and clovers and the
temporary pastures of oats followed by soybeans.
(c) Results.—Lots 1, 3, and 4 required approximately the same number of
days to reach 200 pounds in weight. Lots 2. 5, and 6 will not reach the
required weight until after October 1st. Therefore, the results are not only
incomplete, but a report giving conclusions at this time is out of question.
Commissioner of Agkicultuke 41
2. Soft Poek (Cooperation with De. J. O. Halverson)
(a) Olyject.—To determine the effects upon the carcasses of pigs of a given
weight when fed varying amounts of peanuts. .
To determine the effect upon the carcasses of pigs of a given weight when
fed peanuts and rice by difCerent methods.
To determine the effect upon the carcasses of pigs, the dams of which have
been fed peanuts during the gestation period.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to feed S pigs of a given weight on varying amounts
of peanuts, each pig to be fed individually.
To feed sis 75-pound pigs an equal amount of rice and peanuts. Three of
the pigs were fed both kinds of feeds after they had been thoroughly mixed,
and the other three were fed the feeds separately.
To feed one sow a peanut ration during the gestation and suckling periods,
and feed the litter of pigs on rice after they had been weaned.
(c) Results.—It was found that different amounts of peanuts in the ration
affected the carcasses at slaughtering time.
The pigs that were fed peanuts and rice separately "killed harder" than
those that were fed the two feeds together.
The sow on the last phase of the experiment is not due to farrow until
after October 1st. No definite statements can, therefore, be made at this time.
3. Soft Pork (Cooperation with Bureau of Animal Industry)
(a) Oiject.—The object of this work was to determine the effect of feeding
peanuts for eight weeks with a subsequent feeding on corn and brewers rice
for twenty weeks on the carcasses of 65-pound pigs.
(b) Plan.—The plan of this work was to feed twenty-seven pigs on peanuts
for eight weeks, after which three were killed and the other 24 pigs divided
into two equal lots of twelve each. Lot 1 was fed a ration of shelled corn for
twenty weeks, and Lot 2 a ration of brewers' rice for twenty weeks.
Three pigs out of each lot were slaughtered at the end of each four-weeks
period, beginning with the 56th day on corn and brewers' rice.
(c) Results.—The three pigs slaughtered, after being fed on peanuts for 8
weeks, killed soft and oily. The majority of the other pigs produced satis-factory
carcases.
4. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
(a) O'bject.—The object of this work was to determine the cost of raising
oigs to weaning age of eight weeks.
(b) Plan.—All cost records are kept on the sows in the herd, both during
^heir suckling and dry periods.
(c) Results.—This work is still in progress and, due to the many factors
and conditions involved, definite conclusions cannot be drawn at this time.
UPPER COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, ROCKY MOUNT
R. E. CuREiN, Je., Superintendent
L. A. Page, Herdsman
A herd of twelve purebred Hampshire sows and one boar are kept at this
farm, and the experimental work is carried on with the offspring from these
animals. The work is planned so that two carloads of hogs can be shipped
from the farm each year.
Two fundamental lines are being conducted, namely: (a) Cost of raising
pigs to weaning time; (b) determining the value of different grazing crops
for maturing weaned pigs.
42 BlENJSriAL E.EPOKT
1. Gkazing Crops
Corn and soybeans grown together
:
(a) Object.—The object of this work is to determine the amount of pork
produced per acre when the crops are "hogged off."
(b) Plan.-—The plan was to allow 52 weaned pigs to harvest 2.8 acres of
corn and soybeans grown together.
(c) Results.—The results show that one acre of the above crop, with the
addition of 143 pounds of fish meal, produced 838 pounds of pork.
Harvesting soft, immature corn by hogs
:
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the value of young,
immature corn when "hogged oft" by pigs.
(&) Plan.—The plan was to allow 20 eighty-three-pound pigs to harvest 1.63
acres of immature corn. The pigs were turned in on the crop when the corn
was in the dough stage.
(c) Results.-—The results show that 28 days were required for twenty pigs
to harvest 1.63 acres of the above crop. After adding 100 pounds of fish meal
and 21 pounds of mineral mixture one acre of young, immature corn produced
457 pounds of pork.
2. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
The object, plan, and results so far secured from this work are the same as
those at the Swine Research Farm, where similar work is being conducted.
A report was made on the results of work at Raleigh under section 4 pre-ceding.
BLACKLAND BRANCH STATION, WENONA
J. L. Rea, Jr., Superintendent
A. P. Lefevers, Herdsman
A herd of purebred Poland Chinas is- kept on this farm. The herd consists
of one boar and twelve sows. The offspring from this herd is used as a basis
for experimental work. Two carloads of hogs are shipped from the farm each
year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
Three projects are carried on at this farm, namely: (a) Grazing crops;
(b) dry lot feeding; and (c) cost of raising pigs to weaning time.
1. Grazing Crop Experiments with Soybeans
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the amount of pork
produced from a given area of soybeans when supplemented with a 2 per cent
ration of corn.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to graze 45 eighty-pound pigs on three acres of
Virginia soybeans supplemented with shelled corn.
(c) Results.—This work showed that one acre of soybeans, with the addi-tion
of 337 pounds of corn and 21 pounds of mineral, produced 395 pounds of
pork. The yield of soybeans was rather low and the 45 pigs consumed three
acres in 20 days.
2. Dry Lot Feeding
Soybean meal versus fish meal
:
(a) Object.—This work was conducted to determine the comparative value
of soybean meal and fish meal when fed as supplements to corn in a dry lot.
(b) Plan.—The plan was to divide 52 ninety-pound pigs into two equal lots,
feeding shelled corn, fish meal and mineral to Lot 1, and shelled corn, soybean
meal and mineral to the hogs in Lot 2. Each lot of hogs was fed these
different feeds in separate compartments of self-feeders.
(c) Results.-—The results show that the pigs in Lot 2 consumed three times
as much of the protein supplement as the pigs in Lot 1. However, the total
feed consumed per 100 pounds gain was approximately the same in each lot.
Commissioner of Agriculture 43
The above work was conducted during tlie spring of 1924. During the
summer of the same year the work was repeated. The results of the summer
work show that the pigs in Lot 2 fed on soybean meal made less gains and
required 58 pounds more of feed to produce 100 pounds gain than the pigs in
Lot 1, which received fish meal.
3. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
The object, plan, and results of this work are again the same as that con-ducted
on the Swine Research Farm at Raleigh. This work is being repeated
at several of the stations to corroborate conclusions and eliminate error in
so far as possible. In addition, conducting this work at the various farms
will give an opportunity to determine which section of the State is from all
viewpoints the best adapted to producing high-class hogs that will pass the
market requirements. This determination is especially needed in this State
because of the soft producing feeds which are factors in pork production.
PIEDMONT BRANCH STATION, STATESVILLE
F. T. Meacham, Superintendent
G. A. Bekey, Herdsman
A herd consisting of eight purebred Poland China sows and one purebred
Poland China boar is maintained on this farm. The offspring from these
animals are used for experimental work and for herd development.
The two principal projects with swine at this farm are: (a) Grazing crop
studies, and (b) cost of raising pigs to weaning time.
1. Grazing Experiments with Red Clover
(a) Object.—The object of this work was to determine the value of red
clover for pigs when supplemented with corn and fish meal fed from a self-feeder.
(b) Plan.—Twenty-five spring-farrowed pigs were used, weighing about 35
pounds each. They were divided into two equal lots, one lot receiving shelled
corn, shorts, fish meal, and mineral in separate compartments of a self-feeder
in a dry lot. The pigs in Lot 2 were fed the same feeds in the same manner
and in addition they were grazed on a red clover pasture instead of being
kept in a dry lot.
(c) Results.—The results show that the pigs in Lot 2 required 319 pounds
of grain in addition to the clover pasture to make 100 pounds of gain.
2. Cost of Raising Pigs to Weaning Time
This is again a repetition of a similar piece of work being conducted on the
Swine Research Farm at Raleigh. Much valuable data is being assembled on
this problem which will be published after definite conclusions are drawn.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, WILLARD
Charles Dearing. Superintendent
One swine project is being conducted at this farm and the same kind of
work will be inaugurated at the Tobacco and Mountain Branch Stations in
the near future.
The following is the outline of the work under way
:
1. The Family Sow
(a) Ohjeet.—The object of this work is to determine the cost of maintaining
two purebred sows and one purebred boar under general farm conditions
where all possible feed wastes are utilized.
44 BiENJsriAL Repokt
(b) Plan.—The plan of this work is to maintain a community herd boar
and furnish service at a nominal charge. This will be in addition to the use
made of the boar and the project outlined. The pigs produced each year will
be used for harvesting waste field products. When they are finished they will
be used to furnish the home meat supply. Those that are not needed for home
consumption will be sold either as breeding animals or for pork, depending on
their adaptability for these purposes.
(c) Results.—No results as yet have been obtained on this project, as the
work was only started late in the year.
Articles Published on Swine Production
(a) The Home Supply of Pork.
(b) Give the Pigs a Fair Start.
(c) Pastures for Swine.
(d) Cotton (to Feed) Work Animals.
(e) Cottonseed Meal for Work Animals.
(f) Report of Cooperative Soft Pork Work. .
(g) Curing Pork at Home.
(h) Soybean Meal versus Fish Meal for Fattening Pigs.
(i) Hard or Soft Pork.
(j) Report of Corn and Soybeans Hogged Off.
Meetings Attended
During the year several important meetings were attended, among these
being the Soft Pork Conference held in April at Knoxville, Tenn. Representa-tives
from twelve states were at this meeting. Mr. Hostetler was on several
important committees.
Letters Written
During the year 516 letters were written on subjects pertaining to swine
production, judging, feeding, and management.
DAIRY CATTLE INVESTIGATIONS
Vernon M. Williams, In Charge
The experimental work conducted by this oflice will be reported on a basis
of the following outline covering the major projects which are being con-ducted
:
1. General Statement.
2. Central Experiment Station.
a. Cottonseed Meal Investigations.
(1) Effect of heavy cottonseed meal feeding on reproduction and
lactation of the dairy cow.
(2) Corn silage as a protective factor in heavy cottonseed meal
feeding to dairy cattle.
(3) Corn silage and cracked corn as protective factor in heavy
cottonseed meal feeding to dairy cattle.
(4) Effect of heavy cottonseed meal feeding on the growth and
health of calves receiving milk from cows so fed.
b. Corn Plant Feeding Investigations.
(1) Effect of feeding ration solely from the corn plant on the
reproduction and lactation of the dairy cow.
(2) Effect of feeding rations solely from the corn plant on the
growth and health of calves receiving milk from cows so fed.
3. Coastal Plains Branch Experiment Station.
4. Mountain Branch Experiment Station.
Commissioner of Agricultuke 45
General Statement
The work of the Office of Dairy Investigations is actively carried on at
three stations: The Central Experiment Station at Raleigh, the Coastal
Plains Branch Experiment Station at Willard, and the Mountain Branch
Experiment Station at Swannanoa.
The work at the Central Experiment Station is carried on in cooperation
with the Office of Animal Nutrition and the Office of Beef Cattle Investigations.
On January 1, 1924, the resignation of Mr. Stanley Combs, formerly in
charge of this office, went into effect and the work was under the supervision
of cooperating offices until May 1, 1924, when Mr. Vernon M. Williams took
charge.
No major changes have been made in the physical equipment at the three
stations.
The office has had the full cooperation of the other offices of the Animal
Industry Division in obtaining materials and data.
CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION
A. Cottonseed Meal Feeding Investigations
(1) Effect of Heavy Cottonseed, Meal Feeding on Reproduction and Lactation
of Dairy Cow.
For years cottonseed meal has generally been considered harmful when fed
in large amounts to dairy cattle. Much has been said in regard to the poison-ous
qualities of this feed. Some of the foremost feed authorities in the world
have recommended its use only as a rich protein supplement in amounts not
exceeding two or three pounds daily.
The earlier work at this and other stations where unextracted cottonseed,
cottonseed hulls and cottonseed meal were fed as the principal part of ration
the cows so fed became blind, developed convulsions, aborted, gave birth to
weak, blind calves with soft bones, and other general anatomical and physio-logical
weaknesses.
Cottonseed meal is the cheapest rich protein dairy feed used generally
throughout the South and a great part of the North and West. It is also one
of the cheapest sources of energj^ food for cattle. Consequently the manu-facturers
of this meal and the men who feed it have been trying for some
time to find a way to use it safely.
This station then set about to find out what was wrong with cottonseed
meal, and how, if possible, to right the wrong. For some time it was thought,
because of the isolation from the lohole cottonseed kernel of a poisonous sub-stance
called gossypol, that the trouble in heavy cottonseed meal feeding was
due to this poisonous substance. It was later suggested that copperas feeding
would offset the poison. But this suggestion did not bring success. The
"poison" or "toxic" theory has been accepted rather widely over the country.
More recent work in animal nutrition has shown that certain dietary factors
which, although occurring in exceedingly small quantities in many natural
foods, play a most vitally necessary part in animal life. In view of this, the
station has investigated cottonseed more thoroughly with regard to these
dietary factors and certain mineral substances.
Certain mineral salts were added to the rations of cows whose roughage
was cottonseed hulls and grain was entirely cottonseed meal. There was
some improvement in the cows, but the cows continued to get in bad shape,
calves were born prematurely and. even though some gestation periods were
normal, the calves were weak, and in most cases unable to live long after
birth.
46 Biennial Report
Beginning in 1923, certain other supplements were added in small quantities,
and the result has been astonishing. Cows receiving cottonseed hulls for
roughage, and a grain ration from 80 to 90 per cent cottonseed meal have
produced normal calves, the calves have grown normally to weaning age on
their dam's milk, and the calves have produced approximately the average
for dairy cows in this State. This work is not yet complete, and will need to
be slightly modified and continued before conclusions can be reached. It will
be necessary to continue and repeat some of the work under farm conditions
at the branch stations before definite recommendations can be made.
(2) Corn Silage as a Protective Factor in Heavy Cottonseed Meal Feeding to
Dairy Cattle.
Cottonseed meal supplemented with corn silage has not proved to be a
satisfactory ration. The addition of certain minerals has not proved sufiicient.
The addition of certain minerals and small amounts of other substances
containing proteins of higher quality and rich in the food accessories has made
silage and cottonseed meal apparently sufficient for reproduction and lactation
not far below average.
(3) Corn Silage and Cracked Com as Protective Factors in Heavy Cottonseed
Meal Feeding.
Where cottonseed meal and hulls have been supplemented liberally with
corn silage and cracked corn the cows receiving this ration have not been
able to give birth to normal calves and milk normally. But with the addition
of small quantities of certain other substances to the rations, these cows have
given birth to normal calves and have milked well above the State average.
(4) Effect of Heavy Cottonseed Meal Feeding on the Growth and Health of
Calves Receiving Milk from Coios so Fed.
In all the three experiments described above calves were fed on the milk
of their dams and where calves died they were replaced with week-old calves
purchased from nearby dairymen.
Up until the past year calves fed milk from the cows on the heavy cottonseed
meal rations failed to make the normal growth and to resist disease as did
the calves fed on milk produced by cows fed normal rations. The success in
producing living calves that made normal growth is ascribed to the effects of
the supplements added to the rations of the cows.
B. Corn Plant Feeding Investigations
(1) Effect of Feeding Ration Solely from the Corn Plant on the Reproduction
and Lactation of the Dairy Cow.
It is not uncommon on some farms to feed cows throughout the winter season
on corn fodder and some corn grain. This feeding system was used on four
mature cows. The cows so fed developed an unthrifty appearance, but would
often come through the season in fair flesh. The calves, however, were some-times
born prematurely, weak, and blind. By supplementing rations of corn
stover, corn silage, and crushed corn with steamed bone meal and certain
highly potent sources of vitamines, fully developed calves of normal weight
were obtained. And these cows produced a fair flow of milk. The cows whose
rations were raised in protein by adding corn gluten meal produced consid-erably
more than the average for the State. These results are in accord
with the findings of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, and would
indicate that dairy cows whose rations are largely made up of products of the
corn plant should be fed some mineral compound containing calcium, such as
steamed bone meal or calcium carbonate, at the rate of 2 to 3 pounds per
hundred pounds of grain.
Commissioner of Agriculture 4T
(2) Effect of Feeding Rations Solely from Corn Plant, as Shoivn by the Growth
and Health of Calves Dropped dy Receiving Milk from Cows so Fed.
Until the rations of the cows described above were supplemented, the calves
were subnormal and of low vitality. Following the addition of these supple-ments,
normal calves were obtained, which proceeded with normal growth.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATION
The herd development work has been continued at this station. It was
interfered with somewhat by the transfer of part of the herd to the Mountain
Branch Station, but the heifers now in the herd will soon bring the cow herd
up to the desired number of approximately thirty-five.
There are now eight bull calves, sixteen heifers, and twenty-two cows in
milk. Of these twenty-two, five are heifers which freshened during the year.
The other seventeen that were in the milking herd produced an average of
7.025.6 pounds of milk and 36.5.0.5 pounds of butter fat.
Three daughters of Eminent 19th completed Register of Merit records as
follows
:
Name Number Age at Beginning Butter Fat
Pender Eminent Lass D 369.039 7 yrs., 11 mos. 612.21
Pender Eminent Lass Q 407,986 4 yrs., 6 mos. 551.87
Pender's Delia's Girl 428,960 4 yrs., 8 mos. 534.82
Lass G's Ola, No. 491463. a granddaughter of Eminent 19th, out of Pender
Eminent Lass G and by Rumina's King, completed a very good record of
565.87 pounds of butter fat. starting at 2 years, ten months, which wins an
American Jersey Cattle Club Silver Medal for her and makes her State Class
CJiampion over all breeds.
These granddaughters of Eminent 19th by Rumina King are in turn being
bred to the Distinguished Eminent. This is a line bred bull out of a Gold
Medal cow, who was in turn sired by a Gold Medal sire and out of a cow
with a good Register of Merit record. He was sired by Sensational Fern
and out of Eminent's Distinction, a Gold Medal cow. From a breeding stand-point,
then, the blood of this bull should make a splendid cross on the grand-daughters
of Eminent 19th. When the heifers by the Distinguished Eminent
shall have reached a mature age, thx-ee full mature generations will be com-pleted
in the Herd Development Project. The records of these cows will
show clearly the extent to which a herd can be developed in a few years by the
use of bulls whose ancestry is well filled with high production records.
MOUNTAIN BRANCH EXPERIMENT STATION
The dairy bam at this station has been improved and the herd has become
established so that research may now be carried on at this station.
The cows at this station were taken from the herd at the Coastal Plains
Station and apparently are very well adapted to the conditions at their new
home.
There are in this herd at present two bulls, eleven heifers and eleven cows.
These eleven cows produced an average of 7,524.3 pounds of milk and 360.78
pounds of butter fat during the past year, and only six of the eleven are
mature animals. The average for the State is about 3,000 pounds milk and
135 pounds of butter fat.
All the cows in the herd are daughters or granddaughters of Eminent 19th,
and are being continued in the breeding studies started at the Coastal Plains
48 Biennial Report
Station. One of them, Eminent's Queen Anne, No. 491462, now on official test
as a junior four-year-old, averaged 69.36 pounds of butter fat during her first
five months on test.
Meetings Attended
During the year several important meetings were attended, among these
being the American Dairy Science Association held at Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
October 6th and 7th. Representatives from the entire United States and
Canada attended this meeting.
Lettees Written
During the year approximately 1.200 letters were written on subjects per-taining
to dairy cattle investigations, feeding, and management.
BEEF CATTIvE AND SHEEP INATESTIGATIONS
CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION, RALEIGH
R. S. Curtis, In Charge
D. W. Jones, Herdsman
1. Effect of Cottonseed Meal Upon Growth and Reproduction of Cows
AND Heifers
Object.—To determine the various residual effects from using excessive
quantities of cottonseed meal when fed to cows and heifers under controlled
conditions. Some of the probable results are abortion, animals with soft
bones, partial and total blindness, and general oedemic conditions.
Results.—Results show that various supplements, such as calcium carbon-ate,
butter fat, cod liver oil, yeast, mineral steam bone meal and wheat
embryo have corrective effects. This is a long-time experiment, however, and
conclusive evidence on the many angles of this problem are not now available.
Note.—This work is cooperative with Mr. Vernon M. Williams and Dr. J. O.
Halverson, in charge of Dairy Research and Animal Nutrition, respectively.
2. Stomach Worms in Sheep
Object.—To determine the effect of grazing crops, high feeding, and specific
antidotes for preventing and ridding sheep of stomach worms.
Results.—Results up to date show that all three of the above have correc-tive
effects, but as to the comparative value of each it is not justifiable in
making a statement just at this time.
PIEDMONT BRANCH STATION, STATESVILLE
F. T. Meacham, Superintendent
Grady A. Berry, Herdsman
1. Cost of Raising Lambs to Marketable Age
Object.—To determine the cost of raising high-class market lambs to mar-ketable
age and condition, using a purebred Hampshire ram and high-grade
ewes of Shropshire and Merino blood.
Results.—The results show conclusively that good market lambs can be
produced under Piedmont North Carolina conditions with pastures, silage, and
cracked com supplemented with cottonseed meal and wheat bran. All of the
lambs produced have been sold in Raleigh at good prices, ranging from 15 to
20 cents per pound, depending on the year and season sold.
Commissioner of Agkicultuke 49
BLAOKLAND STATION, WENONA
J. L. Rea, Jr., Superintendent
A. P. Lefeveks, Herdsman
1. Pkodtjction of Beef Cattle
Object.—To determine the success with which high-grade beef cattle can
be produced under Blackland conditions by using purebred sire and common
or native females, native pastures to be grown for the purpose and wintering
feeds to be supplied from the farm with the possible exception of cottonseed
meal.
Results.—Tentative plans are just under way to inaugurate this work, and
as soon as the cattle tick is eradicated in the county, which will be in
December, this work will be started.
COASTAL PLAINS BRANCH STATION, WILLARD
Charles^ Bearing, Superintendent
Thomas H. Cameron, Herdsman
1. Permanent Pasture Studies
(In cooperation with Mr. W. F. Pate, Agronomy Division)
Object.—To determine the grasses which will grow best under Coastal
Plains ' conditions, and to determine their carrying capacity with beef steers,
later applications to be made with dairy cattle.
Results.—Experiment outlined only and plans being made for its execution.
Note.—This same work will be duplicated at the Blackland Station at
Wenona.
Meetings Attended
The most important meeting attended during the year was the Soft Pork
Conference held at Knosville, Tenn., during April. Twelve states were repre-sented
at this meeting. The writer is also chairman of the Council of Live-stock
Research for the Southern States. A report of the work conducted by
this council was reported at the. meeting of Southern Agricultural Workers
held at Montgomery, Ala.
Numerous other meetings were attended throughout the State during the
year. These pertained either to research or extension work.
ANIMAIi INDUSTRY DIVISION
Extension Projects
OFFICE OF SWINE EXTENSION
W. W. Shay, In Charge
W. V. Hays, Assistant
1. Swine Feeding Demonstrations
Owing to the fact that the present custom of feeding and marketing hogs as
practiced by the farmers of North Carolina is not the most profitable possible,
and that proof of the superiority of the methods advocated by the Office of
Swine Extension is necessary to insure their adoption, the feeding demonstra-tion
has been pushed as our major project.
Proof that it does convince is frequently found in the remarks of cooperating
farmers. One at Red Springs, while delivering his hogs for a cooperative
car-lot shipment, said : "It seems strange that I should have fed hogs all my
life and never learned how to do it properly until I was sixty-five years old."
4
50 Biennial Report
Another at Bayboro, in Pamlico County, had nine hogs in a cooperative sliip-ment.
He evidently qiaestioned the wisdom of parting with his property
before receiving his money, but being something of a philosopher, as the car
disappeared up the line, he said : "Well, there they go, and if I never see
a dollar for them, what I have learned about feeding hogs is worth as much
to me as they are." Needless to add that his check came promptly and was
satisfactory.
During the fiscal year just ended, ninety-five demonstrations have been
started in twenty-one counties in cooperation with sixteen agents and four
instructors of vocational schools. In these demonstrations 1,282 hogs were
weighed,